The BJP has a comfortable lead in terms of both vote share and seat share in the results which have been declared today. This does not mean that Gujarat 2017 was not a closely contested election. Here are four charts which prove this.
None of the above (NOTA) has polled more votes than the victory margin in 30 assembly constituencies. Party-wise distribution of these seats is 15, 13 and 2 in favour of BJP, Congress and Independents, respectively. The NOTA option was only introduced in 2013. Had it not been there, the overall seat tally could have been very different.
The number of constituencies where the victory margin is under 10% of total votes polled is the highest since 1990. Almost half of Gujarat’s seats have been decided with a margin of under 10% votes. This is also true for number of seats where the victory margin is under 5% of total votes polled. This is 30% of the total seats in the assembly.