Gujarat is all set for Saturday's first phase of Assembly elections in which 977 candidates will battle it out to get elected from 89 of the 182 constituencies, with the ruling BJP facing a strong Congress challenge.
The 89 constituencies are spread out in the 19 districts of Kutch, Saurashtra and southern regions. High-pitched campaigning, involving among others Prime Minister Narendra Modi, ended on Thursday evening.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi (left) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. PTI
A total of 977 candidates are in the fray from Kutch, Morbi, Jamnagar, Surendranagar, Devbhoomi Dwarka, Rajkot, Botad, Porbandar, Junagadh, Amreli, Gir Somnath, Bhavnagar, Bharuch, Narmada, Surat, Tapi, Navsari, Dang and Valsad districts.
Of the 89 seats, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party holds 67 and the Congress 16. One seat each is held by the NCP and JD-U while independents hold the remaining two.
The most striking battle on Saturday will be in Rajkot West, presently held by Chief Minister Vijay Rupani. He is being challenged by Congress candidate Indraneel Rajyaguru, the outgoing MLA from Rajkot East.
Another outgoing Congress MLA, Paresh Dhanani, from Amreli is challenged by a former Congress leader and now BJP MLA — in Lathi constituency.
The Saurashtra region will see some more high profile battles involving cabinet minister Babubhai Bokhiria, Arjun Modhwadia of Congress and former finance and power minister Saurabh Patel.
The Congress has tried to woo the voters with a manifesto. The BJP released a 'Sankalp Patra' or 'Resolution Letter' on Friday.
The polling on Saturday will begin at 8 am and end at 5 pm. There are a total of 24,689 polling booths. 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.
There are eight seats with more than 16 candidates. The maximum of 27 are in Jamnagar Rural seat. There are just three candidates each in Jhagadia and Ganadevi constituencies, both Scheduled Tribe seats.
Wherever there are more than 16 candidates, two ballot units will be put up.
On the seventh and last day of campaigning on Thursday, Modi, BJP President Amit Shah, Rupani and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath addressed several public meetings. The main face of the Congress campaign has been Rahul Gandhi.
The Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), which has been agitating against the BJP government for more than two years, has been asking people not to vote for the saffron party, a subtle message to vote for the Opposition.
Published Date: Dec 09, 2017 04:06 pm | Updated Date: Dec 09, 2017 04:18 pm
Highlights
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.
Read more
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?
According to News18, Nizami was reportedly the joint secretary of the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee in 2014. He has a history of making controversial remarks.
A defamation notice had been issued against him earlier in 2017 for lashing out at Yogi Adityanath. On 19 March, Nizam had allegedly tweeted: "Zakir Naik is being hounded despite no evidence against him. Yogi Aditynath has cases of murder, riots registered against him."
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.
Click here to read the full report.
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.
Read full report here
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.
Read the full story here
'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.
Click here to read the full PTI report.
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
Amid a host of measures to ensure integrity of EVMs, the Election Commission said that the presiding officers will conduct mock polls at all polling stations with at least 50 votes to ensure that the EVMs are functioning properly. The mock poll exercise will be conducted at least one hour before the actual polling starts.
Dhoraji seat a prestige issue for Hardik Patel
The contest on Dhoraji seat of Gujarat will be a prestige issue for Hardik Patel as one of his key aides, Lalit Vasoya, is contesting from there on Congress' ticket. Vasoya will be taking on veteran BJP leader and former Lok Sabha MP Harilal Patel on this Patel community-dominated Assembly constituency in Rajkot district.
Dhoraji is the only Assembly constituency on which Congress has fielded a leader from Hardik Patel-led PAAS.
Congress promises constitutionally impossible, financially improbable: Jaitley
The BJP on Friday said the Congress poll manifesto in Gujarat promising quota for Patidars and farm debt waiver was "constitutionally impossible" and "financially improbable" and that the party's policy of social polarisation would harm the state.
"One of Congress' poll promises is constitutionally impossible, which is reservation. It cannot go beyond 50 per cent. The Congress vision is based on constitutional impossibility."
The Congress in its manifesto has promised that if it forms the government in the state, it will bring in a special bill to provide quotas for those who are not presently entitled to any reservation and Patidars will get quota under special category. The quota given to OBCs, STs and SCs will not be touched.
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'
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, BJP Gujarat president Jitu Vaghani and BJP leader Bhupendra Yadav released the BJP's manifesto for the Gujarat Assembly elections in Ahmedabad on Friday. The Bharatiya Janata Party, while releasing its sankalp patra (vision document), said that the document will focus on the party's development plank for Gujarat.
Rahul Gandhi however, slammed the move. "We raised questions about Manifesto & BJP hastily prepared it behind closed doors. Congress asked for it so Arun Jaitley released it. Otherwise why do they need it when they think they're going to govern here for 100 years? Such is their arrogance," he said.
Expect a tough contest in BJP 'safe seat' Rajkot West
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.
16:18 (IST)
Bhavnagar deputy election officer denies reports on faulty EVMs
15:52 (IST)
15:44 (IST)
15:31 (IST)
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.
Read more
15:28 (IST)
Rahul Gandhi takes a dig at Narendra Modi over state of education in Gujarat
15:24 (IST)
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%
15:18 (IST)
Watch: EVM engineer talks to media after complaints of EVM being connected via bluetooth
14:53 (IST)
Despite good medical infrastructure, Dang district remains unhealthy
As much as 75% of Dang’s population lives under the poverty line of Rs 356 per person a month in villages and Rs 538 per person in cities, and the district struggles to succeed under Gujarat’s development model. In this primarily tribal district–98% belong to the scheduled tribes–48.1% of children under five years were stunted, 72.2% of women were anaemic and only 44.3% of children under two were fully immunised, according to the latest National Family Health Survey of 2015-16 (NFHS-4), even as the district has made investments in health infrastructure.
And it is not just Dang. Gujarat, ranked fifth by per capita income in the country, is ranked 17 among 29 states on infant mortality, with 34 of every 1,000 infants dying every year, worse than much poorer Meghalaya (30), and lower than India’s average infant mortality rate (IMR: deaths per 1,000 births) of 41, as IndiaSpendreported in November 2017.
Click here to read the full Indiaspend report.
14:46 (IST)
EC team reaches polling booth in Porbandar after complaints of EVMs being connected to bluetooth
14:40 (IST)
Salman Nizami hits back at Modi, says 'PM embraces Sajjad Lone'
14:33 (IST)
People of Gajdi village boycott polls due to lack of basic amenities: CNN-News18
14:30 (IST)
14:28 (IST)
Here's a unique (and hilarious) take on the controversy surrounding Mani Shankar Aiyar
14:26 (IST)
Voter praises Narendra Modi, says security for women in Surat has increased
14:16 (IST)
14:12 (IST)
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."
14:09 (IST)
Congress has made it a habit to say EVMs malfunctioned every time they face defeat: Jitendra Singh
14:01 (IST)
While some are staunch supporters of Narendra Modi, others claim he is 'Feku'...
13:56 (IST)
Mixed feelings for Ro Ro ferry service
The Ro Ro ferry service has also impacted the fishermen in Ghogha. They say their area of fishing has been limited after the construction of jetty and security guards don't let them fish on the other side.
Ro Ro, however, has struck a chord with the Patel Community here in Bhavnagar, many of whom have their relatives working in textile or diamond industry in Surat. The ferry service has enabled them to reach Surat in an hour, which was earlier a 9-hour commute.
13:55 (IST)
Kanti Balar, BJP's candidate from Surat North, casts his vote
13:53 (IST)
Who is Salman Nizami?
According to News18, Nizami was reportedly the joint secretary of the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee in 2014. He has a history of making controversial remarks.
A defamation notice had been issued against him earlier in 2017 for lashing out at Yogi Adityanath. On 19 March, Nizam had allegedly tweeted: "Zakir Naik is being hounded despite no evidence against him. Yogi Aditynath has cases of murder, riots registered against him."
13:43 (IST)
13:42 (IST)
13:30 (IST)
13:28 (IST)
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.
Click here to read the full report.
13:20 (IST)
Voter expresses concern over EVM glitches
13:10 (IST)
31 percent voter turnout recorded till 12 pm: News18
13:09 (IST)
Kaun Nizami, asks Congress on Modi's remarks
13:07 (IST)
A coastal village in Gujarat wonders whether it is being purposely discriminated against
Ghogha, a coastal village in Bhavnagar, from where Narendra Modi inaugurated the Ro Ro Ferry service, gets water once in 30 days. The village is predominantly Muslim, while other villages with Koli population around Ghogha do not face such problems. Ghogha wonders whether it is being purposely discriminated against.
13:06 (IST)
Over 1 lakh power loom machines shut down due to lack of demand because of demonetisation: Voter
12:56 (IST)
12:54 (IST)
Congress' campaign tactics have failed: Arun Jaitley
"Voting trends look fine. We will win by a landslide margin. The BJP has given a great model of development in Gujarat and no party can question that. EVMs are questioned in every election, it is nothing new. The Election Commission will look into it," News18 further quoted Finance Minister Arun Jaitley as saying.
12:52 (IST)
Hope EC can step up: Omar Abdullah on reports about EVM glitches in Gujarat
12:46 (IST)
Karadia Rajput community set to back BJP again
Bhavnagar has a Karadia Rajput community as well, which was said to be going against the BJP. Dansing Mori, a Sarpanch from Dedhula village, had been campaigning against BJP president Jitu Vanghani over a land dispute.
However, the differences seem to have been settled. Mori is back in the ranks of BJP and the Karadiya Rajput community, which has been loyal with BJP, is set to back the party once again.
12:45 (IST)
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).
12:36 (IST)
12:35 (IST)
Bridegroom in Sagrampura will vote first, marry later
A bridegroom in Sagrampura, a 250-year-old colony of Sindhi Muslims in Surat, says he will vote before attending his wedding ceremony.
12:28 (IST)
Modi's frequent visits to state may be sign of BJP's nervousness
Normally, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) shouldn't have any worries about the election results in Gujarat. It is Narendra Modi's home state and the party has been in power there for more than two decades.
Prima facie, it should be cakewalk for the BJP, not least because its principle opponent, the Congress, has been down in the dumps all these years. Nor is there any sign of a revival of its moribund organisation.
Yet, the BJP doesn't seem to be at ease. For one, its star - and, indeed, only effective - campaigner, the prime minister, has virtually parked himself in Gujarat, addressing a large number of meetings all over the state.
As is obvious, it is unusual for a prime minister to spend so much time in a single state before an election, especially when the opponent is supposed to be weak. If he has nevertheless done so, it means that he is uncertain about the outcome.
Click here to read the full IANS analysis.
12:27 (IST)
Journalist Ajay Singh speaks to students in Gujarat
12:21 (IST)
Cyclone Ockhi has only added to the distress of farmers
Cyclone Ockhi ruptured miles of cotton crops with unseasonal rains, causing severe loss to farmers. It has added to their distress. They are wondering if they would get any compensation from the government.
12:15 (IST)
12:09 (IST)
EVMs getting connected via bluetooth to some devices, alleges Congress leader
Senior Congress leader Arjun Modhwadia has reportedly given screenshots from mobile phones of his supporters and has claimed that EVMs in some places in Gujarat are getting connected via bluetooth to some devices like mobile phones and laptops, reported CNN-News18.
12:01 (IST)
2016 drought was a tough time for farmers in Amreli
The 2016 drought was a terrible time for farmers in Amreli, when lack of water rendered farmlands after farmlands useless. Farmers worked as labourers to make their ends meet.
12:00 (IST)
Region-wise voting percentages till now
Surat: 26 percent
Narmada: 21 percent
Navsari: 16 percent
Tapi: 19 percent
Dang: 20 percent
Bharuch: 22 percent
11:50 (IST)
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.
11:46 (IST)
11:45 (IST)
A look at how BJP and Congress performed in 2012:
11:44 (IST)
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
11:39 (IST)
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.
11:33 (IST)
BJP's Reshma Patel arrives to cast her vote amid protests