The voting for 93 seats in second phase for Gujarat Assembly Elections 2017 began at 8 am on Thursday.
The second and final phase of elections will see 93 assembly seats spread across 14 districts in north and central Gujarat going to polls. A total of 851 candidates are in the fray for the second phase, where 2.22 crore people are eligible to vote.
Gujarat witnessed high-decibel campaign in the past one week. Being home State of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, National president of ruling BJP Amit Shah, the polls in Gujarat had achieved proportions no other State elections have witnessed in the recent political history of India.
Here are the live updates:
11:11 am: Around 20% voter turnout recorded in second phase of polling till 10 am
11:08 am: At 10 am, average voter turnout in Anand district is at 13% and 11.77% in Patan district.
10:40 am: Deputy CM Nitin Patel casts his vote in Mehsana's Kadi. He is contesting against Congress's Jivabhai Patel
10:38 am: PAAS leader Hardik Patel casts his vote in Viramgam
10:31 am: 9.6% votes polled in Ahmedabad in first 2 hours
10:27 am: The EVM in Sankheda's Sodhaliya village in Chhota Udaipur was dysfunctional for 50 minutes, so voting was halted for that duration. We fixed the machine and now the voting is underway, said Gaurang Rana, Polling Officer
10:09 am: Arun Jaitley urged voters to turn up and excercise their right
09:49 am: Shankersinh Bapu casts his vote in Gandhinagar's Vasan village
09:37 am: Gujarat Congress president Bharatsinh Solanki is urging voters to turn up and excercise their right.
Urge people to turn out in huge numbers and Vote for #Congress, for Navsarjan of Gujarat with People friendly Government in Gandhinagar!
— Bharat Solanki (@BharatSolankee) December 14, 2017
#VoteCongress #CongressAaveChe #Gujaratelection2017 pic.twitter.com/FKGmIgqk4O
09:33 am: Three polling stations in Vadodara City have reported malfunctioning EVM machines. Election Commission officers have replaced the machines.
09:10 am: BJP President Amit Shah arrives to vote at Naranpura sub-zonal office. The Gujarat Elections is now a prestige battle for the party chief and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
08:29 am: PM Modi's mother Heeraben arrives to cast her vote in a polling booth in Gandhinagar
PM Modi's mother Heeraben arrives to cast her vote in a polling booth in Gandhinagar #GujaratElection2017 pic.twitter.com/orVeaNEKY6
— ANI (@ANI) December 14, 2017
08:27 am: Former Gujarat CM Anandiben Patel casts her vote in Ahmedabad's Ghatlodia. BJP's Bhupendra Patel is up against Congress's Shashikant Patel on this seat
08:16 am: Voting underway in Viramgam's polling booth number 252. This is PAAS leader Hardik Patel 's home town
08:12 am: Hardik Patel's parents pray as voting for second phase begins
Hardik Patel's parents pray as voting for second phase of #GujaratElection2017 begins pic.twitter.com/YZAaAtMWL6
— ANI (@ANI) December 14, 2017
07:55 am: Smallest and largest constituencies by area and by electorate in phase two of Gujarat Election 2017
Smallest and largest constituencies by area and by electorate in phase two of #GujaratElection2017 pic.twitter.com/rh8jw2B3pf
— ANI (@ANI) December 14, 2017
07:43 am: Modi calls on Gujarat citizens to exercise their voting rights.
Today is Phase 2 of the Gujarat elections. I request all those voting today to vote in record numbers and enrich this festival of democracy.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 14, 2017
07:41 am: Congress President-elect Rahul Gandhi asked people of Gujarat to come out in large numbers and exercise their right to franchise
गुजरात में नवसर्जन की शुरुआत हो चुकी है। आपका एक एक वोट लोकतंत्र की नींव को सुदृढ़ और सशक्त बनाएगा। गुजरात की जनता से अपील है कि गुजरात के उज्जवल भविष्य के लिए अधिक से अधिक वोट करें। #NavsarjanGujarat
— Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) December 14, 2017
7.15 am: Voting for the second phase of Gujarat Assembly elections 2017 to begin shortly.
Voting for second phase of #GujaratElection2017 to begin shortly. Visuals from polling booth no.121 in Mehsana's Kadi pic.twitter.com/BwGurtqF4E
— ANI (@ANI) December 14, 2017
Top political leaders in India PM Modi as well as main Opposition Congress party's president-elect Rahul Gandhi literally left not a single stone unturned in their respective poll campaigns.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, L K Advani and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley are among the saffron heavyweights expected to exercise their franchise in the second phase of the elections.
In the first phase, 66.75% of the 2.12 crore voters cast their votes to elect 89 legislators from amongst 977 candidates on December 9.
While the BJP has fielded 93 candidates, Congress has 91, Shankarsinh Vaghela-led All India Hindustan Party has fielded 46, Sharad Pawar's NCP has 28 and Shiv Sena has 17 candidates in the fray.
OneIndia News
