Riding high on the charisma of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP on Thursday retained power in Gujarat for a record seventh straight term pulverising the opposition to secure the biggest majority ever in the state. While the BJP set new records in the home state of Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah with its 'historic' victory, it lost Himachal Pradesh to the Congress after a close fight and the hill state continued with the tradition of nearly four decades of voting out the incumbent party.

PM Modi continued to hold sway over voters and addressed 31 election rallies in Gujarat, the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) crossed the three-fourths majority and in the process checkmated the new entrant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in triangular contests and pushed the Congress down to its all time low. (PTI Photo)

The Gujarat state BJP president CR Paatil said that Bhupendra Patel, the party's 60-year-old soft-spoken face in Gujarat, would continue as the chief minister and his swearing-in ceremony would be held on December 12. Patel won the Ghatlodia seat in Ahmedabad by a huge margin of 1.92 lakh votes.

Getting support from all sections, the BJP got 147 seats and was leading in 9 in a House of 182 garnering a vote share of nearly 53 percent which was the highest for any party in the western state. The BJP, which bagged 99 seats in 2017 Assembly polls with a 49.1 per cent vote share, surpassed its previous best showing of 127 seats in 2002 when Modi was the chief minister. Congress holds the all-time record of 149 seats that it had won in 1985 under the leadership of Madhavsinh Solanki. Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Gujarat Chief Minister Patel credited Prime Minister Modi for the party's "historic victory" (PTI Photo)

Kullu: Congress candidate Sunder Singh Thakur celebrates his win with supporters on the counting day of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections, in Kullu, Thursday, Dec. 8, 2022. (PTI Photo)

BJP leaders and workers dance as they celebrate the party's decisive lead in Gujarat Assembly elections, in Ahmedabad.

Though the opposition in Gujarat took on the Modi government over rising inflation, slowing growth and joblessness, the economic troubles apparently did not dent BJP's popularity in the state that has been a bastion of the party for decades and where Modi was chief minister from 2001 to 2014.