Namo's record win in Gujarat :::: 156 haul in 2022 ...... 20 years before it was 127 :: Congress best 149 of 1985 surpassed

Foreign Media and experts

The Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, was given a significant boost as his Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) won a landslide victory in his home state of Gujarat, a sign of the party’s enduring popularity before a general election due in 2024.

Gujarat has long been a stronghold of the Hindu nationalist BJP, which has won seven consecutive elections there since 1995, but Thursday’s results were the BJP’s biggest electoral success in the state on record. 

- Hannah Ellis-Petersen in 'The Guardian'/  London

Friends and Mutual admiration 

Narendra Modi appears to be an exception. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader won three assembly elections on the trot and ruled Gujarat, his home state, for more than 12 years before moving to Delhi in 2014. He has since led his party to two decisive wins to rule India.

This has not stopped Prime Minister Modi from leading the campaign for the Gujarat state assembly. Thursday's record-breaking win - the BJP is on course to pick up 157 of the 182 seats and more than half of the popular vote - paved the way for a seventh-term in the state. It also proved that Mr Modi is "synonymous with Gujarat" . -- BBC

Modi remains widely popular in the country due to economic growth and also his strong base among India's Hindu majority population, despite critics pointing to rising inflation, unemployment and growing religious polarisation.

He is eyeing a third term as prime minister in 2024 and campaigned extensively across the state in the run-up to the Gujarat vote.

"Modi's popularity, which he has systematically built since he was the chief minister, is very much the factor behind BJP's victory," said Ghanshyam Shah, former director of Centre for Social Studies in Surat, Gujarat's second largest city. -- Reuters 

"Yes, BJP’s Gujarat win is a decent effort, well-done and all that, but don’t get carried away; Modi’s real test going into 2024 is the upcoming RWA election in Jhumri Telaiya." -- sarcastic remark on Sickularism from Anand Ranganathan 

His ideology of strident Hindu nationalism, combined with promises of economic development, remains a big draw with voters. Religious riots convulsed Gujarat shortly after he first gained power in 2002, but that evidently did not dent his popularity. To be sure, Gujarat outpaces most of India in investment and per capita income; and boasts the country's fourth-largest economy. -- BBC

Gujarat Assembly: BJP 1980 - 9 seats - 4th spot (DEBUT) 1985 - 11 seats - 3rd spot 1990 - 67 seats - 2nd spot 1995 - 121 seats - Truncated Govt 1998: 117 seats - Govt (3 elections to reach the 2nd spot, 5 to form a Govt)