Performance wins elections: Shah after Gujarat, Himachal victories

New Delhi: Cherished with the triumphs in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah on Monday said that Gujarat and Himachal election victories show people’s support for PM Modi.

The saffron party seized Himachal Pradesh from Congress while it registered sixth straight win in Gujarat.

"India is entering politics of performance where performance is rewarded. I thank people of Gujarat and Himachal for showing faith in hard-work of BJP workers, policies of PM Modi and poor-centric reforms of Centre," he said during a press conference.

"We have never lost in Gujarat since 1990 - whether Lok Sabha or in state assembly elections. It is not a small achievement this," he added.

Also read: Gujarat rejected Congress’ divisive, casteist politics: Rupani

He said that the Congress party did not focus on the real issues and relied on casteism.

"Congress made every attempt to take the level of politics lower. We were at the receiving end of low-level comments," said Amit Shah.

Shah also said that the BJP's victory in the 2019 Lok Sabha election was "definite".

Asked about the apparent drop in the BJP's number of seats, he blamed it on "caste politics" and the "low level of political discourse".

He also said that a meeting would be held to look into the reasons for the reduced number of seats.

"Congress brought the level of the campaign down, because of which our number of seats went down, but our overall performance was good as we got eight per cent more vote share compared to last time," Shah said at a press conference here as the party won both Gujarat and Himachal.

He said in 2012, the BJP got 47.8 per cent votes, while this time, so far it has got 49.10 per cent votes, showing an increase of 1.25 per cent.

"Since 1990, BJP has never lost any election in Gujarat, and it is going to form the government for the sixth time in the state".

"Politics of dynasty, casteism and appeasement has lost... This is the beginning of the new era of performance-based politics.

"I believe in the leadership of (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi, the face of democracy is changing after 70 years... This is an expression of faith in Modi's developmental policies," he said.

"We are going to form a government, and our vote share has also increased," he added.

Slamming the Congress for bringing down the level of discourse during the Gujarat election campaign, he said: "If they (Congress) can learn a lesson from this, 2019 General Elections will hopefully be held in a better atmosphere."

Asked about allegations of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) being manipulated, Shah said: "Can we change the EVMs? It is not something in hands of the government, it is the Election Commission that handles it."