In an election verdict set to redefine his position within the BJP and the party’s at the Centre, Gujarat today returned Narendra Modi to power with an overwhelming majority for a third consecutive term.

The BJP won 117 of the 182 seats as Congress hopes evaporated and the party finished with 59 seats, barely eight more than its 2002 tally. Congress ally NCP managed only three seats.

Hailing the BJP’s “spectacular victory in Gujarat”, L K Advani, the party’s prime ministerial candidate for the next Lok Sabha elections, said it is “a turning point because it signals the BJP’s comeback as the frontrunner in the next Parliamentary elections... today is a historic day for Indian democracy”. The party hopes to take Himachal Pradesh as well where counting will take place on December 28.

Modi, who received a call from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh congratulating him on his win, said the verdict showed that the people of Gujarat had “not accepted” Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

“The BJP fought the elections only on the development plank and explained the party’s position only when faced with opposition attacks,” he said. “Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh had campaigned for her party and tried to win, but they could not manage as the people of Gujarat did not accept them.”

As Modi later addressed party workers in Ahmedabad in Hindi — he said not just the nation, the entire world was watching Gujarat — the BJP issued a statement, saying “this historic verdict of the people of Gujarat will bring qualitative change in prevailing Indian politics. People have approved of a stable, efficient and transparent government which enhances their feeling of security.”

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