Ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in a jubilant mood, as counting of votes for 17th Lok Sabha will begin on Thursday. The party has repeatedly said that it will repeat its performance of 16th Lok Sabha during which it bagged all the 26 seats in the state. Shree Kamalam, the party headquarters on the outskirts of state capital Gandhinagar is gearing up as all the celebration material has started pouring in.
Party spokesman Prashant Vala said that entire rank and file of the party is very excited and are making arrangements for 'Vijayotsav' (the celebration of victory). "We are installing a giant LED screen at Kamalam, where live results will be displayed. As soon as results will be announced, we will fire crackers. Candidates contesting respective Lok Sabha seats have also made arrangements in their constituencies," said Vala.
Party's state leaders will be present at the state head quarters. As results for different constituencies will start pouring in 'Vijay Sarghas' (victory procession) will be taken out in Gandhinagar and respective constituencies. Party president Amit Shah is contesting his first ever Lok Sabha polls from Gandhinagar, replacing former party president and deputy Prime Minister L K Advani. Party sources are confident that he will will with a record margin, beating all the previous records.
The party had made a clean sweep winning all the 26 Lok Sabha seats in the state in 2014 general elections. Recent exit polls have also elated the sentiments of BJP leaders and its workers. Close to half a dozen of these polls have given clear majority for BJP-led NDA, which would get over 300 seats to comfortably cross the majority mark of 272 in the Lok Sabha. In Gujarat, the party is expected to lose at the most one seat in the state, according to the exit polls. Earlier, deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel had said that people made up their mind to reinstate Narendra Modi as the country's prime minister and that the party will get more seats than what the exit polls have predicted.
State BJP president Jitu Vaghani had bragged that as the final results of the polls will be announced, leaders of opposition Congress party will have to be sent to mental asylum.
Exit polls have also elated the sentiments of BJP leaders and its workers. Close to half a dozen of pollster have given clear majority to BJP-led NDA, with some predicting over 300 seats