What India's political map looks like after Gujarat, Himachal results

The twin victories tightened BJP's grip over the country's politics

IMAGE: ABP NEWS

New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s victory in the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections has proven that the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah 'carishma'.  This victory also changed the political map of India. IMAGE: ABP NEWS With victory in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, the BJP now has governments in 19 states across the country. BJP will now be focusing to get Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram under their rule. The BJP fought off a strong challenge from Rahul Gandhi-led Congress to win the Gujarat assembly polls for the sixth straight time today, and also wrested power from the Congress in Himachal Pradesh with a close to two-thirds majority. The twin victories tightened BJP's grip over the country's politics that saw Congress lose one more state with general elections only 18 months away. With this, the Congress slide continues and it is now in power in only Punjab and Karnataka of the 18 states, which elect 10 or more Lok Sabha members. The party is also in power in Meghalaya, Mizoram and Puducherry. The BJP's footprint across the country has become bigger with each election. The list of states where the Congress has lost power since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to office and Amit Shah became BJP president has got longer with the fall of Himachal Pradesh. Under Modi and Shah, the BJP has ousted the Congress from power in Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand, Assam, Uttarakhand, Goa, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur. In Goa and Manipur, which threw up hung assemblies, it got fewer seats than the Congress but managed to form governments by stitching up alliances with smaller parties and independents. The only state where the Congress has won during this period is Punjab. Congress-ruled Karnataka goes to the polls early next year. The BJP has lost only in those state polls where it has never been a serious contender for power -- West Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu -- or where its main challenge came from regional parties, like Bihar and Delhi. It is now in power in Bihar as an ally of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Earlier this year, the saffron party decimated the regional Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party to storm to power in Uttar Pradesh. Himachal Pradesh has continued with its practise of voting the main opposition to power by handing over the reins to the BJP.