The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, and the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Bhupendra Patel, were two of the political heavy hitters who cast their ballots early on Monday morning.
The voting began at 8 am today. The voting percentage was at 4.75 per cent till 9 am.
PM Modi made these remarks after casting his vote in Ahmedabad’s Nishan Public School in Ranip where he spoke to the reporters for a brief period.
Patel cast his vote at Polling Booth 264 in Chandranagar Primary School.
Voting for the second phase of the Assembly elections is underway. The voter turnout in the second phase of the Gujarat Assembly polls till 9 am was at 4.75 per cent, according to the Election Commission data on Monday.
In the 2017 elections, the BJP won 37 seats and the Congress 22, while two seats went to independents in the central Gujarat region, where 10 seats are reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST) and three for Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates.
Voting for 89 seats spread across 19 districts of Kutch, Saurashtra and South Gujarat will be held on Thursday.
The BJP had won the seat in 2007 and 2012 but lost to the Congress in a bypoll in 2014. The opposition party retained the seat in 2017.
Flying of drones near the venue had been banned by the district collector for security reasons.
Viramgam Assembly segment, which comprises Viramgam, Mandal and Detroj talukas of Ahmedabad, has been with the Congress for the last 10 years. This and 92 other seats will go to polls in the second phase on December 5.
The state has been a BJP stronghold for a long period and the party has set its sight on returning to power with a handsome majority this time as well.
Addressing a rally in Valsad district in the run-up to the next month’s Assembly elections, Modi said Gujarati people have never hurt anybody and embraced whoever comes to Gujarat.
The former Leader of Opposition in the Assembly is also facing challenge from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which is expected to eat into the Congress’s traditional vote banks.
The BJP is eyeing a seventh straight term in Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah, where a triangular contest among BJP, Congress and AAP is shaping up.
The court observed that even after the term was over on June 15, 2017, Ajanta (Oreva Group) continued to maintain and manage the bridge even in the absence of any agreement.
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There were at least 16 seats in the previous Assembly elections in Gujarat where the victory margin was less than 3,000 votes that affected
Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel will contest the elections from the Ghatlodia constituency.
The Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP, which has been trying to project itself as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) main contender in Gujarat, released its 11th list of candidates on Monday.
The collapse of the British-era suspension bridge in Morbi on October 30 claimed 135 lives.
Vyas, 75, had recently met former Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, the Congress leader said.
Isudan Gadhvi was born in Pipaliya in Gujarat’s Devbhoomi Dwarka district and completed his early education in Khambhaliya.
Earlier, the Gujarat government constituted a five-member committee to probe the bridge collapse incident.
The yatra was earlier scheduled to start on Monday, but was postponed by a day following the Morbi bridge collapse tragedy on Sunday.
The Sabarmati Riverfront Development Corporation Limited said the bridge is very strong and safe, but the decision has been taken for the safety of visitors and appealed for cooperation on this issue.
