Gujarat poll verdict on expected lines, but does not reflect nation's mood: Sharad Pawar

Mumbai: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar on Thursday said the verdict of the Gujarat Assembly election was on expected lines, but it doesn't reflect the mood of the nation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday appeared headed for a record victory in Gujarat as trends available after five rounds of voting showed the party was leading in 155 of the state’s 182 assembly seats that went to polls earlier this month.

Addressing the NCP's state executive meeting, Pawar said, "The Gujarat verdict is on expected lines as the entire power machinery was used for the benefit of one particular state and projects were shifted there." "The Gujarat results don't reflect the mood of the country. The results of the civic polls in Delhi and Himachal Pradesh Assembly, where the BJP has been defeated prove that,'' the former Union minister said.

The Congress is leading in Himachal Pradesh on 39 seats, while the BJP was leading on 25 and had won one seat. The majority mark is 35 in the 68-member assembly.