India’s Bharatiya Janata Party today is set to retain power in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat and regain governance in Himachal Pradesh as vote count in elections to the legislative assemblies in the two states neared its end.

Looking for a sixth consecutive five-year stint in power in Gujarat, BJP was ahead in 105 seats while its arch rival Congress led in 74 seats, according to the Election Commission (EC) trends available for 181 of the total of 182 seats in the state legislature.

In Himachal Pradesh, BJP was ahead in 40 seats while ruling Congress was in front in 21, said EC trends for 65 of the total of 68 state assembly seats.

Under India’s first-past-the-post electoral system, a party needs a simple majority in legislature to capture power.

However, it appears that BJP may have to settle this time for lesser number of seats in Gujarat. The party had won 115 seats in the previous assembly polls five years ago. On the other hand, Congress’ kitty of seats might go up from 61 the party had secured in 2012.

Narendra Modi, who single-handedly helmed the BJP campaign in Gujarat and Himachal, flashed a V (victory) sign after he reached Parliament whose winter session reconvened this morning after the weekend break.

Celebrations broke out at the BJP national headquarters in Ashoka Road in New Delhi and in Gujarat capital Gandhinagar.

Though early counting trends had showed a close fight between BJP and Congress in Gujarat, the saffron party marched ahead of its rival as the counting progressed.

BJP has won every state assembly election since 1995 in Gujarat. However, it was out of power for a couple of years due to party infighting and rebellion by Shankersinh Vaghela who had later joined Congress. BJP came back to power in the state in 1998 and has ruled uninterrupted since then.

An analysis of the results in Gujarat this time so far shows that BJP suffered some setbacks in Saurashtra region of the state but is holding on to its strongholds in urban areas of the state.

A backward caste coalition stitched by Congress to take on BJP in Gujarat seems to have had a limited impact and that too only in Saurashtra Kutch region where Congress has made impressive gains, surging ahead of BJP.

The race for power in Gujarat in recent election has been a prestige battle for Modi because this is the first time that poll was held in the state since he quit as chief minister of the state and shifted to Delhi to be India’s PM in May 2014.

For Congress President Rahul Gandhi, the Gujarat poll outcome is an acid test of his leadership as he not only led the party’s campaign from the front in the state but also became the head of the party just two days ago taking over from his mother Sonia Gandhi. In this election, Congress had sensed an outside chance at pulling off an upset victory.

The outcome of Gujarat poll is seen by analysts a crucial moment in Indian politics as it may have implications for national politics. A win today will give BJP added momentum in the run-up to the 2019 national election after its sweep of Uttar Pradesh earlier this year.