Gujarat Assembly Election 2017: Votes will be counted on December 18.
Ahmedabad: The battle for Gujarat enters its last lap today. North and central Gujarat are voting in 93 of the state's 182 constituencies in the second of the two-phase assembly elections that saw a shrill and bitter campaign between the BJP and the Congress. Among those who will vote today in their home state are Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah. Voting begins at 8 am and ends at 5 pm. The results will be announced on December 18. PM Modi and Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi, in tweets this morning, urged people to vote in record numbers.
Here is your 10-point cheatsheet to the story:
- The 93 constituencies that go to vote today are in 14 districts. The ruling BJP won 52 of these seats in the previous election, and the Congress 39 while two more are held by the Nationalist Congress Party and an Independent.
- The BJP's big challenge in this round is to retain Ahmedabad and Vadodara, Gujarat's two mega cities that had overwhelmingly backed the party in the last election. Of the seats that go to polls today, the BJP had won 26 of the 31 seats from these two districts alone.
- The Congress has attempted to harness the anger of key groups against the ruling party and has tied up with Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani, backward leader Alpesh Thakore and the face of the Patidar campaign Hardik Patel.
- It is in the tribal belt that the BJP expects to make up for more than any loss that it might incur. The BJP's lead campaigner PM Modi has extensively focused on the tribal belts to complement the party's conscious effort to deepen its roots within the tribal community including encouraging local leaders.
- Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, who is contesting from Mehsana seat from where Hardik Patel launched his movement to demand quotas for Patels with a massive rally, is among the prominent candidates in the fray. Young caste leader Jignesh Mevani is also contesting from Vadgam as an Independent candidate, with the Congress not fielding a candidate against him.
- BJP president Amit Shah and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley are already in Ahmedabad to vote today, while PM Modi will fly in in the morning to vote at a polling booth in the Nishan High School in Ranip locality of Sabarmati. His polling station is about 10 km from the river from where he took off in a seaplane on Tuesday, the BJP said to demonstrate the progress that Gujarat had made under BJP and expose the Congress' allegation of "hollow growth" as a lie.
- As he left for Delhi after wrapping up a hectic campaign schedule with the seaplane ride, planned after a roadshow in Ahmedabad was cancelled - PM Modi made an emotional vote appeal asking Gujarat to "not only give the BJP an overwhelming majority but also ensure that BJP wins in every polling booth across the state."
- "There is a massive undercurrent against the BJP in Gujarat," said Rahul Gandhi, who had quite unlike his previous efforts in State elections camped in Gujarat for weeks. He attacked the BJP on economic and development issues during much of his campaign hoping to amplify any anti-incumbency factor that could go against the BJP after its uninterrupted run in power for 22 years. Mr Gandhi has predicted a "zabardast" verdict.
- PM Modi has pitched the Gujarat battle as one between "vikas (development)" and "vanshwaad (dynasty)," in an attack on Rahul Gandhi, who is set to take over from his mother Sonia Gandhi as Congress president before Gujarat votes.
- Just as campaigning ended, the PM invoked Gujarati pride urging voters to reject the Congress over the "neech" slur by the party's Mani Shankar Aiyar. The PM also linked Mr Aiyar's comment with him hosting a dinner for former Pakistan Foreign Affairs Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri and attended by former PM Manmohan Singh and other Congress leaders last week and said it was an insult to Gujarat. He has said his home state will "take revenge on voting day."
