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Ahmedabad, Dec 19 (IANS) Gujarat's ruling BJP was supremely confident ahead of Thursday's vote count following elections which exit polls say will see Chief Minister Narendra Modi get another five-year term. Gujarat recorded its highest voter turnout of 71.3 percent in the two-round elections to pick a new 182-seat assembly. The elections ended Monday. BJP leader Jaynarayan Vyas asserted that the party would win the electoral battle with impressive margins. "We will win on the basis of good governance, transparency and progress," Vyas told IANS. He said if the BJP wins, it would be the first time in Gujarat's history that a chief minister would have won three successive elections. Asked if Modi -- who has been chief minister since 2001 -- will have a national role if the party wins, Vyas said it was for Modi and the BJP to decide. Although most exit polls have predicted a sweeping win for Modi, who is widely seen as a more powerful entity than the BJP in Gujarat, the Congress remains hopeful. "We have promised to address concerns of people about water, electricity and housing," state Congress spokesman Amee Yajnik said. The millions of votes polled in Gujarat will be counted across the state Thursday from 8. a.m. under heavy security. Though other BJP leaders also campaigned in the state, Modi remained the biggest crowd-puller. Pitted against him were Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son and party general secretary Rahul Gandhi. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also campaigned in the state.
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