New Delhi, Dec. 9 -- Riding on a pro-incumbency vote despite helming the State for 27 long years, the BJP delivered its "best-ever" performance on Thursday by storming back to power in Gujarat for the seventh straight time bagging 156 of the 182 Assembly seats and garnering 52.5 per cent of the votes.

In a stupendous performance in the home State of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP restricted its main challenger, the Congress, to its worst-ever tally of 17 seats as the emerging third force, the AAP, made a major dent into the latter's vote bank but could win only 5 seats as against its tall claims of forming the Government.

At 27.3 per cent, the vote share of the Congress, which had bagged 149 seats in 1985, is almost half of BJP w...