BJP using govt machinery to influence polling, alleges Gujarat Congress chief

Gujarat Congress chief Jagdish Thakor on Monday alleged election malpractices by the ruling BJP in the ongoing Assembly elections and said that the party is influencing the polling with the help of police and government machineryVoting for the second phase in the Assembly polls began today at 8 am in 93 Assembly constituencies across 14 districts of north and central Gujarat Alleging an attack on Congress candidate Kanti Kharadi the party Gujarat chief said that the party is receiving similar complaints from other candidates alsoCongress is winning Our candidate Kanti Kharadi was attacked last night and was untraceable for 3 hrs We called up EC reached Gandhinagar at 130 am and called them to come there Complaints by our other candidates are also coming he alleged while speaking to ANI He also alleged an atmosphere of fear in the state and said that it shows the BJP is losingAlso Read PM Modi several chief ministers to attend all partymeeting on G20 summitBaldev Thakor is contesting from Kalol and it was turned into a Police camp There was an atmosphere of fear It shows that BJP is losing and with the help of Police and government machinery they are influencing the polling Our workers and leaders will contest bravely and win he said Earlier today Bharatiya Janata Party BJP candidate from Gujarats Viramgam Hardik Patel appealed to the people to cast their votes in the second phase of the assembly elections which is underway and said that his party has worked for the development of the stateI appeal to everyone to vote BJP has maintained law and order and has worked for the development of Gujarat I want all Gujaratis to vote for BJP We should exercise our power to vote as the election is the beauty of democracy Patel said ahead of casting vote Patels wife Kinjalben Patel exuded confidence in her husbands victory in the polls and said that people support Hardik and that he would emerge victoriousThis isnt a necktoneck fight everyone is with Hardik Were awaiting the results Hardik likes challenges and hell overcome this challenge too Hell definitely win she said The 93 pollbound seats in the second phase are spread across Ahmedabad Gandhinagar Mehsana Patan Banaskantha Sabarkantha Aravali Mahisagar Panchmahal Dahod Vadodara Anand Kheda and Chhota Udaipur districtsAmong the key constituencies in the final phase are Ghatlodia which will determine the poll fate of Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel Viramgam where Patidar leader Hardik Patel is contesting as a BJP candidate and Gandhinagar South where the saffron party has fielded Alpesh Thakor The Leader of the Opposition Congress Sukhram Rathava is contesting from Chhota Udaipur while Lakhabhai Bharwad Jignesh Mevani and Amee Yajnik are some other prominent Congress names from Viramgam Vadgam and Ghatlodia seatsFrom the Aam Aadmi Party AAP Bharat Vakhala from Devgadhbaria Bheema Chaudhary from Deodar Dolat Patel from Gandhinagar South Kunwarji Thakor from Viramgam and Vijay Patel from Ghatlodia will test their electoral fortunes in the second phase The highoctane campaigning for the second phase of the Gujarat Assembly elections came to an end on Saturday evening which saw big shots across parties trying to woo votersDuring the first phase of polling on December 1 Gujarat saw an overall turnout of 6314 per cent The voting began at 8 am in 89 constituencies spread across 19 districts of Kutch Saurashtra and South Gujarat regions The first phase of voting for 89 seats in Kutch Saurashtra and South Gujarat ended on December 1 with an overall turnout of 6331 per cent The results of the Gujarat Assembly polls will be announced on December 8This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever