- INC(I)14177.5%
- JNP(JP)2111.5%
- IND105.5%
- BJP94.9%
- JNP(SC)10.5%
Congress storms back under a new banner
What happened
A single party swept this election, returning decisively to power in the state.
The Indian National Congress (I) won 141 of the 182 seats on offer — a landslide by any measure.
That gave it 49 seats more than the 92-seat mark needed for a majority.
The Janata Party (Jp) trailed far behind, with just 21 seats.
What changed
The fragmented assembly from the previous election gave way to one dominant winner this time.
The previous election's leading party, the Indian National Congress, collapsed.
The INC(I) itself was contesting for the first time under that name.
It went from 0 seats to 141 in a single election.
Notable numbers
A few numbers from the results stand out.
The tightest finish was Danta, Gujarat, decided by a margin — how far ahead the winner finished, in votes, over whoever came second — of just 146 votes.
At the other extreme, Chotila, Gujarat saw the widest win of the night, with the winner ahead by 81.6% of the vote.
Turnout — the share of registered voters who actually cast a ballot — peaked in Kheralu, Gujarat, reaching 72.1%.
Chorasi, Gujarat had the largest electorate of any seat that year, with 1,53,570 people on the rolls.
The backdrop
This win reflected a new coalition-building strategy INC(I) had adopted in the state.
Congress leader Madhavsinh Solanki organized the 'KHAM' coalition of Kshatriya, Harijan (Dalit), Adivasi and Muslim voters. Congress won 149 of 182 assembly seats in 1985, a state record. Anti-reservation agitations opposing the strategy's OBC reservation policy occurred in Gujarat in 1981 and 1985.