2017 Gujarat Legislative Assembly election

The 14th Gujarat Legislative Assembly election, 2017 was held on 9 December 2017 and 14 December 2017 in the Indian state of Gujarat to elect the Members of Legislative Assembly (MLA). The votes were counted on 18 December. All 182 members of the 14th Gujarat Legislative Assembly were elected with the leader of the largest party or coalition expected to become the next chief minister.

The incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party obtained a simple majority with an increase in the vote share. Despite suffering a decrease in the number of seats, the incumbent government retained a simple majority in the house. The vote share and number of seats for Congress increased from the previous election in 2012. This was the highest number of seats won by the Congress in the last 32 years (after the 1985 election, in which Congress won 149 seats). The next election was held in December 2022.

Background
Gujarat, like the other states of India, follows parliamentary system of government. The government is responsible for the Legislative Assembly and stays in power only if it has the support of a majority of its members. Elections take place on a first-past-the-post basis: the candidate with the most votes wins the seat regardless of an absolute majority. Every citizen of the state who is 18 and above is eligible to vote. The respective governors of the state then invite the leader of the largest party or coalition to form the government. The Constitution of India states that the term of Legislative Assemblies is five years. As is common in most other first-past-the-post electoral systems, the state's politics are dominated by two parties – the Indian National Congress (INC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The term of the prior Gujarat Legislative Assembly ended on 22 January 2018. The previous assembly election, held in 2012, resulted in BJP gaining a majority of seats and Narendra Modi becoming the chief minister. After the 2014 General Elections, Modi became the prime minister of the country and Anandiben Patel was appointed the chief minister of Gujarat. After the Patidar agitations, Dalit protests and claims of poor governance, she was replaced by Vijay Rupani as the chief minister by the party.

Electoral process changes
VVPAT-fitted EVMs were used in the entire Gujarat state at 50,128 polling stations in the 2017 elections, which was the first time that the entire state saw the implementation of VVPAT. VVPAT slips were counted in a polling station in each of Gujarat's 182 constituencies. There were 43.3 million registered voters in Gujarat as of 25 September 2017.

Demographics
Other Backward Castes, excluding Muslim OBCs, comprised 48% of the total population of Gujarat. 147 communities were considered to be OBCs at the time of the election. Scheduled tribes (primarily Adivasis) comprised 15.5% of the population, while scheduled castes (Dalits) totalled 7%. Muslims of various castes constituted 9.7% of the population. Forward castes and others made up the remainder.

Bhartiya Janata Party
Jaitley said continuous growth, unity and concern for every section are main ingredients of BJP manifesto. He said social polarization path attempted by Congress will harm the State like what happened in the decade of 1980s.Jaitley said Congress had mentioned some programmes that are already implemented by BJP government. The government is already giving minimum support price for ground nut, delivering crop insurance, assistance for check dam and drip irrigation, loan under Mudra schemes

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had addressed 34 public rallies in his home state.

  Manifesto  : Agri Proposals:
 * Continue with the current policies for improving farm income
 * To continue with Cooperative milk societies and animal welfare
 * Effective implementation of law against cow slaughter

Youth Proposals:
 * To open up more industrial cluster to increase Employment
 * To encourage start-ups through skill development and Economic support
 * Labour & remuneration policies to reflect current needs
 * Along with govt policies to have results oriented employment policies
 * To establish Gujarat Olympic Mission
 * To create modern sports facilities and provide economic support for sports persons
 * To encourage traditional sports

For Women:
 * To set up a fund for women empowerment schemes
 * Free higher education for women
 * Healthcare facilities for women
 * New women oriented policies
 * To increase widow pension from time to time

Education Policy:
 * To expand policies for welfare of girl child and schooling
 * To expand foundational education
 * To include new technological innovations in educations
 * More importance to vocational education
 * To better implement fee control in Private schools
 * To create world class universities in the state

Healthcare:
 * To provide better facilities for treatment of grave illnesses in district hospitals
 * To increase availability of generic and affordable medicines
 * To set up mobile clinics and 252 government diagnostic laboratories
 * To free Gujarat of vector-borne diseases by 2022

Village Development:
 * Cement houses for poor families
 * All houses to have plumbing and toilet facilities
 * To bring in waste disposal units
 * Better transportation and connectivity for rural areas

Urban Development:
 * Timely implementation of smart city projects
 * Effective and smart traffic management systems
 * Surat and Vadodhara to have metro train services
 * Pipe gas connections in all houses
 * AC- Bus services in major cities
 * Playground facilities for children in all sectors
 * Multi-level parking facilities
 * Control on unlawful occupation of land

Industrial Policies:
 * Policy based industrial growth
 * Encouragement to Employment oriented industries
 * Regulated policy for industries
 * New policy for Semi-conductor and Telecommunications industries
 * Government to collaborate with GIDC for global competitive industrial policies
 * Better interest rates for SME lending
 * To create help centres for entrepreneurs
 * To ease licensing policy for Small traders via online
 * Accounting services to be provided at affordable rates
 * Considerable improvement in policies for co-operative societies
 * Revival of closed co-operative units

Tribal Welfare:
 * Effective implementation of tribal protection laws
 * To create Tribal Development Board at district level
 * To create registered Tribal committees
 * To provide irrigation facilities in 4 lakh hectares of land in North-east tribal areas
 * Special policies for Agariya communities
 * Better implementation of PESA Act
 * To provide land owner ship for all Tribals
 * To set-up International levels tribal universities

OBC Welfare:
 * To provide economic support for those in generational family businesses
 * To double the grant for Thakore and Koli development corporation
 * Expansion of Self-employement schemes

SC and ST Welfare:
 * To create a committee for their betterment
 * Easing of processes for obtaining caste certificate and BPL card
 * Cement houses for everybody
 * Better opportunity for education, healthcare and employment
 * Creation of hawking zones for hawkers

Dalit Welfare:
 * Effective protection of Dalits
 * Economic support through Dr BhimRao Ambedkar Education fund
 * Increase in schools
 * Financial support for Dalit workers

Poor Labourers and Workers:
 * 100% coverage under Suraksha Bhima Yojana
 * Cement Houses for all
 * Affordable healthcare
 * Affordable food policies to be expanded in cities

Financially Backward Communities:
 * To fund secondary and high education of students
 * Financial security through Jan Dhan and PM Suraksha Bima Yojana
 * New policies for holistic development of poor
 * Better opportunities for employment

Ports:
 * Develop ports and better marine traffic routes
 * To expand RORO ferry services
 * To provide financial support to communities dependent on sea
 * To give financial support for Modern equipment
 * To create Marine product laboratory for improvement of manufacturing

Transparent and Better Governance:
 * Administrative public outreach programme
 * Karm-yogi Abhiyaan for Government employees
 * Online services for registration and tax payment
 * Forceful implementation of Anti-liquor policies

Tourism:
 * To create Sardar Patel Statue at Karmsad
 * New tourism circuits
 * To create yoga and medication centre in Saurashtra in association with Somnath University
 * To promote Handicraft festivals
 * To create memorials for great Gujarati personalities
 * Better facilities for Pilgrims

Cultural Policies:
 * To promote language, literature and dance forms
 * To promote ras-garba and traditional art forms
 * To encourage music along with literature and language
 * To create and expand Art festivals
 * To reserve position in Girnar authority Board for saints
 * To support for religious festivals like Maha Shivratri & Lili Parikarma

Senior Citizens:
 * Timely increase in old-age pension
 * To provide government services at home
 * Expand the Shravan tirth policy

For NRI Gujarati:
 * Gujarat tour services for NRIs
 * To immediately resolve issues of NRIs
 * To promote Gujarati cultural activities outside India

Indian National Congress
Manifesto:

Woman and Healthcare:
 * Housing for women of all communities
 * Free education for girls from primary to higher education
 * Loans for women to start small businesses
 * Universal healthcare card

Farmers:
 * Loan waiver
 * Free water
 * 16-hour daytime power
 * Effective crop insurance

Rural and Housing:
 * Each village to have sanitation and drinking water
 * 25 Lakh houses in 5 years in urban and rural areas

Business, Law & Order:
 * Ending of Gundaraj in Gujarat
 * Establishing fast-track courts for serious crimes
 * HC bench in Surat, Rajkot

cost of living and inflation:
 * Petrol, diesel cheaper by Rs 10
 * 50% reduction in property tax for small shopkeepers
 * Up to 50% reduction in electricity rates

For youth & students:
 * Unemployment allowance of up to Rs 4,000 to youth
 * Rs 32,000 cr fund for employment to 25 lakh youth
 * Withdrawal of contractual outsourcing and filling of government vacancies
 * Scholarship for poor and middle-class families
 * Conversion of all self-financed courses into govt-aid courses to reduce fee burden
 * Free laptops and phones to college students

Exit polls
Exit polls were released on the evening of 14 December.

Results
The votes were counted on 18 December 2017. Over 1.9% of all voters in the election specified the None of the Above (NOTA) option, which amounted to more than 500,000 votes.

2020
In March 2020, five Congress MLAs from Gujarat resigned, bringing its tally down to 68. Three more resigned in June 2020, making it 65. The BJP subsequently won all eight seats in November by-elections with absolute majorities of the vote.