Prime Minister Narendra Modi stepped out of his car, greeted the media with a ‘namastey’ and flashed a victory sign, while entering the Parliament, as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) looks comfortably placed to sweep the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh Assembly polls. The BJP took an unassailable lead in Gujarat on Monday morning as, at the time of filing this report, the party is ahead on 102 seats, while Congress is on 78. In Himachal Pradesh, the BJP leads on 44 seats and Congress on 21. The BJP is now poised to form the government in both the states, even as the early trends showed Congress giving a tough fight to it. A final announcement from the Election Commission is awaited, as the counting of votes is underway.

The assembly polls in the two states, especially Gujarat, were a battle of honour and prestige for the BJP and Congress and they, hence, left no stone unturned to establish their own supremacy in the states. The counting of votes for 68 Assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh and 182 constituencies in Gujarat began this morning. Himachal Pradesh went to polls on November 9, while elections were held in two phases in Gujarat on December 9 and 14.

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