Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Saturday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party may lose the Gujarat Assembly elections scheduled to be held in December. “The recent trends as well as reports indicate that the ruling party is likely to lose the elections,” Thackeray told reporters, according to PTI.

“Some visuals of [Narendra] Modi’s public meetings are doing the round, which show that people are leaving the venue in groups during his address, which had never happened in the past. Even from this, one gets a message,” he added.

The MNS chief said that if the BJP manages to get more than 150 seats in the 182-seat strong Assembly, it should be considered a miracle by the electronic voting machines. The Assembly election in Gujarat will be held in two phases on December 9 and 14, and the results will be declared on December 18.

Thackeray added the Election Commission should work independently, alleging that the poll monitoring body had “inordinately delayed” announcing the dates for the Gujarat election under pressure. Earlier, the Congress had alleged that the commission delayed announcing the dates so that the BJP can offer more schemes to the people in the state. The Model Code of Conduct comes into effect as soon as voting dates are announced, banning politicians from announcing freebies until elections are over.

Thackeray also analysed the BJP’s win in the 2014 Lok Sabha election, and said 50% credit for Narendra Modi’s victory goes to Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi. “The way he mocked Modi during the campaign helped the latter win the polls,” he added.