Modi declares BJP victory in Gujarat state election

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has declared victory for his BJP party in a key election contest in the western state of Gujarat, as well as in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh.

As voting continued on Monday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was on track to win 99 seats in the 182-member state house in Gujarat, crossing the 92 seat halfway mark required to rule.

"All these results reveal one thing: the country is prepared for reforms," Modi said on Monday at the headquarters of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

"People have voted for development," he added. "These are historic results for Gujarat."

As the votes were counted, Congress Party President Rahul Gandhi conceded defeat, congratulating the BJP on the win.

"The party accepts the verdict of the people and congratulates the new governments in both states," Gandhi said in a tweet. "I thank the people of Gujarat and Himachal with all my heart for the love they showed me."

In 2012, the BJP won 115 of Gujarat's 182 seats.

The BJP has governed Gujarat for the past 22 years and Modi was the chief minister of the state three times.

"Our party cannot be defeated for a hundred years," the prime minister had said to a crowd of supporters in a rally at Morbi in Gujarat last month.

On Monday, vote counting began at 8am local time.

"[The results are] an endorsement of the kind of governance that we have provided in Gujarat for 22 year," BJP national spokesperson Nalin Kohli told Al Jazeera.

"It is a rejection of the politics of divisiveness of caste that was tried in the campaign by the Congress party," Kohli added.

"With the Congress party, the bar is set so low, that people are not talking about a victory but that they put up a good fight."