Gujarat polls 1st phase LIVE updates: As voting ends, Arun Jaitley says BJP will register 'landslide victory'

Arun Jaitley exudes confidence in BJP as polling ends for first phase

Jaitley said that he is sure that BJP will have "landslide victory" in Gujarat. "The BJP will get to serve the people of Gujarat again for the next five years," the finance minister said.

Over 70% voting in Gujarat first phase, many still to vote

Over 70 percent voting was registered in Gujarat at close of polling at 5 pm in the first phase, though there were still long queues lined up to vote at most polling stations, Chief Electoral Officer BB Swain said on Saturday.

IANS

Chairman of Lok Adalat in Rajsamadhiyala says voters given time slots to maintain discipline

Lok Adalat's Hardev Singh Jadeja told Firstpost that Rajsamadhiyala village has adopted a "scientific method" to handle polling. "We have allotted people time slots have discipline during voting process," he said.

BJP should win in every booth, Narendra Modi tells voters in Mehsana

Taking a dig at Congress for losing election in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and other states, Modi urged the voter in Gujarat to not vote for the Grand Old Party. "Congress should not win even one seat in the state Assembly. BJP should win in every booth," he said.

Narendra Modi lauds BJP govt's efforts to solve water crisis in Gujarat

"We brought the Sujalam-Sufalam scheme. We got rid of the thirst of Gujarat. The water level in the ground is what we call development," Modi said at a rally in Mehsana on Saturday.

Rajkot voter says his brother took permission from panchayat as he is hospitalised

Jagdishbhai Kakadiya from Rajsamadiyala village of Rajkot, where voting is compulsory spoke to Firstpost. He said: "Mere bhai ka accident ho gaya hai, Isliye usne panchayat se permission le liya hai. Hospital me hai, vote nahi karega. Lekin mai khud pahucha hu vote karne. (My brother met with an accident. He took permission from the panchayat since he can't vote from the hospital. But I am here to vote)"

Narendra Modi slams Congress

Criticising the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra said that Congress has set a record of spreading lies. At a rally in Mehsana, Modi said: "You have destroyed the country. Four generations (of Gandhi family) had made the situation poor in India."

Voters complain of EVM, VVPAT glitches across state; 40.47% turnout till 2pm

As of 2 pm on Saturday, Gujarat recorded 40.47 percent voting as in the first phase of the state Assembly election amid reports of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) and VVPAT glitches.

Earlier on Saturday, there were reports of technical glitches in EVMs in some of the polling booths in Surat and other areas.

The poll panel received several complaints of EVM malfunctioning in Kosamba region of Valsad district as well. An EVM was also tampered with in Rajkot East constituency, a complaint to the EC said.

Voter turnout in Surat till 3 pm
 

Here is the list of voting percentages in Surat till 3 pm:

Mangrol- 45%

Olpad- 44%

Surat East- 43%

Katargam- 43%

Limbayat- 44%

Mahua- 45%

Vagra- 44%

Bardoli- 45%

Choryasi- 45%

Kamrej- 44%

Karanj-  43%

Mandvi- 44%

Majura- 45%

Salman Nizami hits back at Modi, says 'PM embraces Sajjad Lone'

People of Gajdi village boycott polls due to lack of basic amenities: CNN-News18

Narendra Modi avoided topic of corruption in Gujarat polls because of Jay Shah: Rahul Gandhi

"Narendra Modi has not talked about the issue of corruption even once in the Gujarat polls," said Rahul Gandhi in Gujarat, adding that it was because of Jay Shah that the prime minister avoided the topic of corruption.

"Honesty has surrounded Narendra Modi," said the Congress vice-president. "When Narendra Modi talked yesterday, he was talking about himself 60 percent of the time."

Who is Salman Nizami?

The controversy over Salman Nizami

Narendra Modi was allegedly referring to Nizami's tweet where he questioned who the prime minister's parents are.

According to a report on Times Now, Nizami often tweeted about Azad Kashmir.

Responding to Modi's remarks, Congress leader Rajiv Shukla dismissed the claims and said that he didn't know any individual in the party by Nizami's name and that he held no position in the party. "I don't know who is Salman Nizami. He does not hold any position in the party. Even we can say that there is some random person Ram Lal in BJP who said something," said Shukla.

Over 1 lakh power loom machines shut down due to lack of demand because of demonetisation: Voter

Muslims need MAAS, just like Hardik Patel's PAAS: Social worker

Social worker Saleem Patel from Surat said that Muslims need a separate body called Muslim Adhikaar Sangharsh Samiti (MAAS), just like Hardik Patel's Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS).

Congress asking for votes in the name of caste: Narendra Modi

"Salman Nizami asks on Twitter - Modi, who is your father, who is your mother? Among the other things he says - he calls for Azad Kashmir. He calls our army rapists. How can the people accept such people like Salman Nizami? He also says there will be an Afzal from every home," ANI also quoted the prime minister as saying.

Modi is currently addressing a rally in Lunavada.

11 percent voting recorded in first two hours of polling

Around 11 percent voter turnout was recorded in the initial two hours during polling on 89 seats of Saurashtra and South Gujarat regions in the first phase of the crucial Gujarat assembly polls.

After the polling process began at 8 am, people could be seen stepping out of their homes despite cold weather and queuing up to exercise their franchise at the polling stations.

According to officials, around 11 percent voting has been recorded in the first two hours.

Although there were reports of technical glitches in EVMs in Surat and some other centres, the polling process resumed after the machines were replaced, officials of the Election Commission said.

In the first two hours, several important leaders and candidates cast their votes, including Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, his opponent on Rajkot-West seat Indranil Rajyaguru, senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel, Gujarat BJP chief Jitu Vaghani and Congress MLA of Amreli seat Paresh Dhanan, among others. — PTI

Hardik Patel and GST stand in the way of an easy win for BJP

Between BJP repeating its 2012 performance — winning 63 seats out of 89 going to the polls — stand Patidar reservation activist Hardil Patel and cumbersome procedures of GST.  There is no denying the fact that there has been palpable resentment among the people in the run up to the polls against the BJP, a party which they strongly supported for close to two and half decades.

Hardik’s influence is put to test in Saurastra region and GST’s implication is put to test in Surat, diamond and textile hub. In last few days, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the campaigning pitch to an emotive level, putting it on the top of everything else. The key question is — has that convinced voters to continue preferring the BJP over Congress? After all, their vote would decide who rules Gujarat for next five years.

BJP's Reshma Patel arrives to cast her vote amid protests

10 percent polling registered in first two hours

Visible enthusiasm among voters marked the first phase of Gujarat election on Saturday as large queues lined up outside 24,689 polling booths. The Election Commission said it received several complaints against malfunctioning EVMs and VVPATs, while the Model Code of Conduct was also violated at a few places.

In the first two hours of polling in 89 constituencies spread across 19 districts of Kutch, Saurashtra and the southern region of the state, an overall 10 percent polling was registered, a poll official said.

People showed unprecedented and overwhelming response in Rajkot and Amreli as sources said there was 16 percent polling since 8 am.

A voter from Rajkot says people are choosing between development and change in these Assembly polls

Congress won't ape BJP but will fight for issues that affect people, says Rahul Gandhi

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Friday said his party would not imitate BJP leaders who "abuse" him, and asserted that he would fight over the issues which affect the people of poll-bound Gujarat.

"A leader told me that whatever Mani Shankar-ji (Mani Shankar Aiyar) said about (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi was wrong, but what about Modiji and people from BJP saying wrong things about you, abusing you, and saying (objectionable things) about you on Internet? I told him he belongs to Congress and not the BJP, so we will not do what they do, we have a history," Gandhi said.

'Burden of making Congress return to power after 27 years rests on Hardik’s perceived influence'

For long, Congress’ pre-poll punch line was Congress ka haath Garib ke saath, but in December 2017, during the Gujarat election campaigns, it changed to something else – Hardik ka haath, Congress ke saath.

Of the three “young Turks”, which sections of media tirelessly talked about, two of them — Jignesh Mewani and Aplesh Thakor — could bring any dividend or so to say help Congress is swinging tribal and OBC votes in favour of the party. That burden of ousting BJP from power and making Congress return after 27 years rests on Hardik’s perceived influence.  As the polling is on in 89 constituencies, it’s now on to the voters .

Nearly 400 crorepati candidates will contest Gujarat polls

As many as 397 crorepati candidates are in the fray for the Gujarat Assembly elections, an analysis of their election affidavits done by two NGOs has found.

Of the total 1,828 candidates trying their luck in the two-phased Assembly polls, 1,098 nominees have passed class 12 or below. Also, there are only 118 women candidates in the fray, according to the report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Gujarat Election Watch (GEW).

While 198 out of the total 977 candidates of the first phase have declared assets worth more than Rs 1 crore, 199 nominees out of the total 851 of second phase have emerged as 'crorepati' as per the analysis of their affidavits conducted by the NGOs.

Will the women of Gujarat continue supporting Narendra Modi?

The number of women queuing up to vote early morning is indicative of the fact that they take democracy seriously.

In this election in Gujarat, the mood of women voters will be watched very closely by the BJP. Over the years, Narendra Modi has had tremendous appeal among women voters and in the past, they have voted decisively for Narendra Modi.

Do they continue to support Modi and his party when he is away as prime minister? While much has been talked about Patidar, OBC, Muslim, tribal factor, there has not any worthwhile ground level assessment about what womenfolk think of this election, how are they going to vote, particularly in rural and semi-urban areas.

a significant number of women attended Modi's rallies. Will they come out and vote for him when Modi — in the last two days — has linked this election with son of soil’s pride and by extension with Gujarati ashmita?

Technical error reported in 33 EVMs in Rajkot

8.5 percent voter turnout in the first hour of voting in Gujarat: CNN-News18

Farmers in Amreli particularly angry with Modi

Amreli is predominantly agrarian and the farmers there are particularly angry with Prime Minister Narendra Modi over falling crop prices.

Moreover, cotton, which was sold at Rs 1,200/20 kg three years ago, today sells at Rs 850-900. Meanwhile, the production cost has tripled.

As chief minister, Modi often castigated the then prime minister Manmohan Singh and demanded the prices be raised to Rs 1,500. The main gripe of farmers is that Modi as prime minister has not done anything on this issue himself.

Over two crore voters eligible to vote today

Of the 2,12,31,652 voters, 1,11,05,933 are males and 1,01,25,472 females while 247 are from the third gender.

Polling to take place today for 9 hours

Polling on Saturday will begin at 8 am and end at 5 pm at a total of 24,689 polling booths.

Updates for Saturday, 9 December begin here

The millionaire club: Who has the richest candidates

Polling to begin at 8 am

Poll preparations underway

Minimum candidates contesting from Jhagadia, Ganadevi seats

There are just three candidates each in Jhagadia and Ganadevi constituencies. Both these constituencies are reserved for Scheduled Tribe candidates. 

Maximum candidates contesting from Jamnagar Rural

The maximum of 27 are in Jamnagar Rural seat and there are eight seats with more than 16 candidates. Wherever there are more than 16 candidates, two ballot units will be put up.

Mock polls to be conducted at every polling station before actual polling: EC

Dhoraji seat a prestige issue for Hardik Patel 

Congress promises constitutionally impossible, financially improbable: Jaitley

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Kutch, Saurashtra crucial regions in first phase polling

Saurashtra and Kutch are crucial for the ruling BJP as these two regions have the highest concentration of seats in the first phase. Political pundits believe that the party winning the maximum number of seats from Saurashtra and Kutch will be better placed to form the next government in the state. 

What are VVPAT machines

VVPAT machines are special printers attached to the voting machine. When a voter presses a button in the EVM, a paper slip is printed through the VVPAT. The slip contains the poll symbol and name of the candidate. It allows the voter to verify his/her choice.  After being visible to the voter from a glass case in the VVPAT for seven seconds, the ballot slip will be cut and dropped into the drop box in the VVPAT machine and a beep will be heard. VVPAT machines can be accessed by polling officers only.

After Goa, Gujarat to be second state to use VVPAT machines for polling

Gujarat would be the second state after Goa where the voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) system would be used, along with electronic voting machines (EVMs), at all the 50,128 polling booths. Political parties have been raising their doubts about the electronic voting machines. However, the Election Commission has said that the machines remain tamper-proof. 

BJP launched manifesto just a day before polling; Rahul Gandhi slams party's 'arrogance'

Expect a tough contest in BJP 'safe seat' Rajkot West

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The Gujarat Chief Minister is contesting election from Rajkot-West, often seen as a safe seat for BJP, which has been representing it since 1985. However, this time around the odds may not align so easily in the favour of BJP as Rupani is facing Congress' Indranil Rajyaguru. 

Though Rajkot-West is a stronghold of the RSS, the Congress has mounted a strong challenge by bringing in Rajyaguru, the sitting MLA from Rajkot-East, to rework the caste combination in the party's favour.

Rupani must also overcome the discontent Patidars, who are the largest community in the seat. Out of 3.15 lakh voters in the constituency, the number of Kadva and Leuva Patidars is the highest at 62,000, followed by Brahmins, Lohana and Jain communities.

Voters from Saurashtra, South Gujarat to decide fate of 977 candidates on Saturday

Gujarat goes to the polls on Saturday for the first phase of the assembly election being held in 89 seats of Saurashtra and South Gujarat regions with 977 candidates in the fray. After a campaign that often turned vituperative, around 2.12 crore voters are expected to exercise their franchise in Modi's home state tomorrow to choose between the ruling BJP and the Congress.