Gujarat Election Results: Watch how BJP, Congress performance changed in 5 years

Heading for a two-thirds majority, the BJP was on Thursday poised to retain power in Gujarat for a record seventh straight term but was set to be dethroned by the Congress in Himachal Pradesh where the hill state could follow its long history of an incumbent government being voted out.

In the 2017 Gujarat elections, the Congress had managed to restrict the BJP below the 100-mark. This time, the BJP has decimated the Congress to post a record-setting total.

After giving a tough fight to the BJP in 2017 Assembly polls in Gujarat by winning 77 seats, the Congress has hit a nadir in the western state where the party's campaign, mostly shouldered by local leaders, has leaned on door-to-door canvassing for votes as its leader Rahul Gandhi chose to stay away to focus on the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra'. Rahul had aggressively campaigned in 2017.

Also watch: Gujarat Elections 2022: BJP vote share 53%, Congress 27%

With a vote share of nearly 28 per cent, the Congress won or was ahead in 16 seats.

BJP also managed to improve its tally as the issues it faced in the 2017 state polls like the state-wide outburst of anger among the Patidar community and restlessness among the traders over the GST regime appear to have faded.