Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is the overwhelming favorite to win the parliamentary elections in his home state of Gujarat, where a resounding victory would serve as an extraordinary boost for the leader in the 2024 national parliamentary elections.
Counting of votes in the elections, held in two phases on December 1 and 5, is already giving the party a wide lead in more than 150 of the 182 seats in the Gujarat legislative assembly, according to data from the country’s Election Commission.
The Indian National Congress, the main opposition party, has performed poorly in Gujarat, but is slightly ahead of the BJP in the state of Himachal Pradesh, where elections have also been held.
The regional elections are seen as a test of the mood of voters in the country of 1.4 billion people. Trends show that Modi continues to enjoy great popularity, but the BJP could face some problems in some regions in 2024.
Modi was chief minister of Gujarat before becoming prime minister, and his tenure in 2002 saw some of India’s worst religious riots, in which more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed. Voters in Gujarat, a Hindu-majority economic powerhouse, like most of India, have voted for the BJP by a majority in every election since 2002.
