Gujarat Assembly Election Results 2022: How BJP Handled Anti-Incumbency In Gujarat?

Ahmedabad: The record breaking victory of the BJP in Gujarat in the assembly elections 2022 is amazing. The BJP stunned all the political analysts with their performance.
It is believed that anti-incumbency happens against the ruling party, because no political party can fulfill all the promises made to the public. In such a situation, it is natural to have dissatisfaction against the party in power for six terms.

Modi, Shah had foreseen anti-incumbency 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP's chief strategist Union Home Minister Amit Shah had foreseen about a year and a half ago that the party would have to face anti-incumbency votes in the 2022 assembly elections. They took an important decision and removed Chief Minister Vijay Rupani overnight and in his place Bhupendrabhai Patel was given the command of the state.
This decision was taken so quickly that Bhupendrabhai Patel himself came to know from TV news channel about this. Bhupendra Patel is the second Chief Minister of Gujarat after Narendra Modi, who never held any government post before becoming the Chief Minister. He became an MLA for the first time in 2017.

All the ministers were removed

In Gujarat, BJP not only changed the Chief Minister, but all the ministers were also removed. These included Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, popular among the Patels. This experiment was done for the first time in any state.

Tickets denied to sitting MLAs

BJP took several other measures to remove anti-incumbency. These included cutting tickets of 38 MLAs and 9 ministers in ticket distribution for assembly elections.

Veteran leaders did not contest

Veteran leaders like Vijay Rupani, Nitin Patel themselves announced that they will not contest elections this time. In their place, tickets should be given to the youth. These leaders did this on the request of the high command. BJP insiders tell that Union Home Minister Amit Shah had presented a respectable exit plan to these leaders, which was accepted by all the senior leaders. 

The result was that despite such large scale ticket cutting, the rebellion in Gujarat was minimal. Those who rebelled and contested the assembly elections, could not even save his bail.