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‘ravan’. “There is a competition in Congress on who says more bad words for Modi…We have to teach them a lesson and the way is to vote for “Lotus” on the 5th (second phase of Gujarat elections),” he said. Several BJP bigwigs including Union Ministers cast their votes even as campaigning for phase 2 continues. CM Bhupendra Patel and Amit Shah held roadshows while Prime Minister Modi addressed a rally in Kalol.
Casting his vote, former Gujarat Chief Minister said, “I am confident that BJP is going to form the government in Gujarat for the seventh time”. Rivaba Jadeja, BJP’s candidate from Jamnagar North also cast her vote and dismissed speculations about a rift in the family as her sister-in-law Naynaba and father-in-law campaigned for the Congress. “This is not the first time that two members of a family are associated with two different ideologies,” she said.
Voting for 89 seats in the first phase of Gujarat elections began at 8 am. People were seen queueing up outside booths across the region on Thursday morning, and the Chief Election Commissioner has said that record number of votes is expected this year. Among the key candidates in the first phase are AAP’s Chief Ministerial face Isudan Gadhvi, from Khambhalia in Saurashtra region and Rivaba Jadeja, Cricketer Ravindra Jadeja’s wife who is BJP’s candidate from Jamnagar North.
The first phase of polling in the Gujarat Assembly Elections will commence at 8 am on Thursday and continue till 5 pm. Voting will be held in 89 seats spread across 19 districts in Saurashtra-Kutch and southern parts of the state across 14,382 polling stations. 788 candidates are in the fray, and an estimated 2.4 crore voters in the region.
High-octane campaigning for the first phase of the polls ended on Tuesday. Out of the 89 seats going to polls in the first phase, the BJP won 48 in the 2017 election, the Congress had won 40, while one seat was bagged by an independent candidate.
Apart from the BJP, Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), 36 other political outfits, including the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Samajwadi Party (SP), Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) have also fielded candidates in various seats which will go to polls in the first phase.
The BJP and Congress are contesting in all the 89 seats while new poll entrant AAP is contesting in 88 seats, as its candidate from Surat East constituency had withdrawn his candidature.
As many as 339 independents are also in the fray in the first phase of polls. In other parties, the BSP has fielded 57 candidates, BTP 14 and CPI-M four candidates. Out of the total 788 candidates, 70 are women including nine fielded by the BJP, six by the Congress and five by the AAP.
Among the prominent candidates, AAP’s chief ministerial candidate Isudan Gadhvi is contesting from Khambhalia seat in Devbhumi Dwarka district of Saurashtra region, while AAP state unit president Gopal Italia is contesting from Katargam in Surat.
Rivaba Jadeja, the wife of cricketer Ravindra Jadeja, is contesting from Jamnagar (North), BJP MLAs Harsh Sanghavi and Purnesh Modi from different seats in Surat and five-time MLA Parshottam Solanki from Bhavnagar (Rural).
Sitting Congress MLAs like Lalit Kagathara, Lalit Vasoya, Rutvik Makwana and Mohammad Javed Pirzada are among the candidates in fray in the first phase from seats in Saurashtra region.
Seven-time MLA and veteran tribal leader Chhotu Vasava is contesting from Jhagadia in Bharuch.
Out of the total 4,91,35,400 registered voters in Gujarat, 2,39,76,670 are eligible to cast their votes in the first phase of the elections. These include 5.74 lakh voters in the age group of 18-19 years, and 4,945 above the age of 99 years.
The election body has set up 89 ‘model polling stations’, as many stations run by differently-abled people, 89 eco-friendly polling stations and 611 run by women. There are also 18 polling stations run by the youth.
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