Voting begins for 2nd phase of Gujarat Assembly elections in 93 seats

The second and final phase of voting for the Gujarat Assembly elections began at 8 am on Monday in 93 constituencies across 14 districts in the central and north regions of the stateA total of 833 candidates from 61 political parties including Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel of the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP are contesting the polls in these Assembly segments spread across Ahmedabad Vadodara Gandhinagar and other districtsPrime Minister Narendra Modi will cast his vote at a polling station set up in a school in Ranip area of Ahmedabad city while Union Home Minister Amit Shah will exercise his franchise at a municipal centre in Naranpura area hereOn the eve of polling PM Modi took blessings of his mother Hiraba by visiting her residence in the state capital GandhinagarAlso read Voting in bypolls for six assembly seats across 5 states beginsThe BJP is seeking a seventh straight term in Gujarat where the new poll entrant Aam Aadmi Party AAP has added a third dimension to the traditional bipolar contest between the saffron party and the CongressThe first phase of voting for 89 seats in Saurashtra Kutch and south Gujarat regions was held on December 1 when an average voter turnout of 6331 per cent was recordedThe counting of votes for the total 182 Assembly seats will be taken up on December 8The 833 candidates in the fray for the second phase of polls include 285 independentsA total of 251 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise for the second phase of elections including 129 crore men and 122 crore women There are 596 lakh voters in the age group of 18 to 19 years according to the Election CommissionThe poll body has set up 14975 polling stations for which 113 lakh election staffers have been deployedThe BJP and the Arvind Kejriwalled AAP are contesting in all 93 seats The Congress is contesting 90 seats and its alliance partner Nationalist Congress Party NCP in two segmentsAmong other parties the Bharatiya Tribal Party BTP has fielded 12 candidates and the Bahujan Samaj Party BSP 44Some of the important constituencies in the second phase of polls include Ghatlodia in Ahmedabad district of CM Bhupendra Patel Viramgam seat also in Ahmedabad from where Patidar leader Hardik Patel is fighting on the BJPs ticket and Gandhinagar South from where Alpesh Thakor is fighting as the saffron party candidateDalit leader Jignesh Mevani is contesting as the Congress candidate from Vadgam seat in Banaskantha district and Leader of Opposition in the Gujarat Assembly Sukhram Rathva is the nominee from Jetpur in Chhota Udepur districtBJP rebel Madhu Shrivastav is contesting as an independent candidate from Vaghodia seat in Vadodara districtPM Modi conducted a whirlwind campaign for the BJP candidates on December 1 and 2 including two backtoback road shows in AhmedabadDuring the last leg of the campaign Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath held rallies in Dholka Mahudha and Khambhat towns while Union minister Smriti Irani held roadshows in Modasa and Siddhpur towns of north GujaratAAP leader and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann also held road shows for the second phase of the electionsIn the 2017 state Assembly polls the BJP won 51 of the 93 seats where polling is underway Congress 39 while three seats went to Independent candidatesIn central Gujarat the BJP had bagged 37 seats outnumbering the Congress which got 22 But in north Gujarat the Congress had won 17 constituencies while the saffron party got 14This 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