Lok Sabha elections: Survey predicts 20 seats for BJP, 6 for Congress in Gujarat

In 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress is set to wrest six Lok Sabha seats from the BJP in its saffron fortress of Gujarat, where the ruling party had in 2014 won all 26 constituencies.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Photo: PTI

NEW DELHI: The Congress this time is set to wrest six Lok Sabha seats from the BJP in its saffron fortress of Gujarat, where the ruling party had in 2014 won all 26 constituencies. A survey of journalists commission by ABP News predicted a 20-6 score in favour of the BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state. It is likely to be a cakewalk for BJP president Amit Shah from the prestigious Gandhinagar seat, which was held by party veteran LK Advani for five consecutive terms, the survey said. In 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP denied ticket to Advani and replaced him with Shah. The saffron party is also pegged to emerge victorious from the crucial Valsad seat. It is believed that whichever party wins Valsad forms the government at the Centre. Vadodara, from where Narendra Modi had contested in 2014 and won, will also go to the BJP, the survey suggested. Modi retained Varanasi and resigned from Vadodara after winning both seats in previous Lok Sabha election. Besides these three seats, the BJP is also projected to win in Surat, Rajkot, Jamnagar, Porbandar, Kachchh, Bharuch, Bhavnagar, Bardoli, Ahmedabad East, Ahmedabad West, Mehsana, Kheda. The ruling party is also slated to reign supreme in Panchmahal, Dahod, Sabarkantha, Surendranagar and Navsari.

In #Gujarat, the Congress is likely to wrest Anand, Banaskantha, Junagadh, Chhota Udaipur, Amreli and Patan Lok Sabha seats from the BJP in 2019 Lok Sabha elections: Survey pic.twitter.com/0lNTSKrOpF

— ABP News (@abpnewstv) March 28, 2019

The six Lok Sabha seats that the Congress may wrest from the BJP are: Anand, Banaskantha, Junagadh, Chhota Udaipur, Amreli and Patan. Gujarat will vote in a single phase on April 23. In the 2017 Assembly elections, the Congress managed to restrict the BJP to 99 seats, lowest in two decades, and increased its tally by 16 seats to 77 in the 182-member Assembly. 2014 Lok Sabha elections In the state which is considered to be a bastion for the BJP, 24 of its candidates won by margins of one lakh-plus votes in 2014 and the party clocked nearly 60 per cent votes. Leading the list in terms of the victory margin was the country's prime minister-in-waiting Modi who defeated Congress's Madhusudan Mistry by 5,70,128 votes in Vadodara. The only two seats where the margin was less than one lakh votes for BJP were Anand and Sabarkantha.