Raghu Sharma resigns as Gujarat in-charge after Congress faces defeat in assembly elections

Amid the counting of the results for the Gujarat assembly elections, Congress' Gujarat in-charge Raghu Sharma tendered his resignation to the Indian National Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday. In his resignation letter, Sharma wrote, "I take moral responsibility for the Congress party's unexpected defeat in the assembly elections".

"I am resigning from the post of in-charge of Gujarat", he further wrote in his resignation letter.

Kindly accept my resignation from the post of Gujarat in-charge, he added. According to the latest information from the Election Commission, BJP is poised to win 158 seats in the 182-member Gujarat assembly having already won 79 seats and leading on 79 seats.

The BJP, which has won its seventh straight election in Gujarat, is set to not only improve its own best record of 127 seats in 2002 - the first election with Narendra Modi as chief minister - but the Congress tally of 149 seats in 1985 by the Congress' Madhav Singh Solanki government.

The counting of votes for the Gujarat Assembly elections began on Thursday at 8 am and is still underway. The counting in Gujarat began at 37 centres in 33 districts.