Ahmedabad, Shimla: Counting of votes for the 182 seats in Gujarat and 68 seats in Himachal Pradesh began at 8 am today and as per reports trickling in from the two States, the BJP was set to win a fifth consecutive term in Gujarat but by a lower margin of victory than last time. The BJP will also form government in Himachal Pradesh with a big win, snatching another State from Congress. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Parliament for the Winter Session today, he flashed the ‘V sign’ for victory. Today’s 2-0 result is “an approval of PM Modi’s policies,” said Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. Such a comfortable victory for BJP will mean the saffron party will rule Gujarat for five more years, making it 27 years of uninterrupted rule by the BJP in the western state. The record for a political party to rule a particular State for the longest term is held by Communist Party of India (CPI) that ruled West Bengal for 34 years from 1977 to 2011 with Jyoti Basu heading the government for 30 consecutive years.
