Gujarat has geared up for the second and final phase of the Assembly elections to be held on Thursday. Polling will be held in the northern and central regions, which includes two of its main cities — Ahmedabad and Vadodara.
A total of 851 candidates are in the fray for 93 Assembly seats spread across 14 districts in this phase, with 2.22 crore people eligible to exercise their franchise.
Key players
Prominent candidates in the fray for the battle include Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, who is contesting from Mehsana against Jivabhai Patel of the Congress, and half-a-dozen top Ministers. Junior Home Minister Pradipsinh Jadeja and Health minister Shankar Chaudhary are among the leaders contesting.
From the Opposition camp, prominent candidates include Alpesh Thakor from Radhanpur and the Congress-backed Independent candidate Jignesh Mevani from Vadgam.
In Ahmedabad city, the ruling BJP won 14 of the 16 Assembly seats in the 2012 polls, while the Congress secured two seats. In the district, the Opposition held two out of five Assembly seats.
Battle for Modi bastion
In Maninagar, the constituency once represented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Congress has given ticket to a foreign-educated young face Shweta Bhrambhatt against the BJP MLA Suresh Patel. Mr. Modi vacated the seat after becoming Prime Minister in 2014.
In its bid to form a caste bloc against the BJP, the Congress has won over Hardik Patel, Alpesh Thakore and Jignesh Mevani, who have emerged as the young turks representing Patidars, OBCs and Dalits, respectively, and pose a formidable challenge to the saffron party’s dominance.
Among the voters to exercise their franchise in the second phase include Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP President Amit Shah, BJP patriarch L.K. Advani and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, all of whom will cast their vote in Ahmedabad city.
Eye on LS polls
It may be noted that the Gujarat Assembly polls are being viewed as a precursor to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and therefore it has become a prestige battle for PM Modi, who helmed the campaign for the ruling BJP, and a litmus test for Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi, who has been spearheading the campaign for the Congress since September.
The campaigning for the second phase concluded on Tuesday after Mr. Modi took a seaplane ride from Sabarmati river in Ahmedabad to Dharoi Dam in north Gujarat. He returned after offering prayers at the famous Ambaji Temple.
Soaring Congress hopes
On the other hand, Mr. Gandhi, in his first media interaction after being elected as party president, told presspersons that there was “tremendous undercurrent” against the ruling BJP in Gujarat and predicted a victory for his party in the Assembly polls.
Citing quota agitations by Patidars and OBCs and Dalits as an example of rising discontent among the people, he claimed that “public mood” had undergone a radical shift with all sections of society angry with the saffron party.
A month-long campaigning for the crucial polls witnessed a major and ugly political firestorm after PM Modi alleged that Pakistan was trying to influence the Gujarat polls and even accused former PM Manmohan Singh of being a party to it.
However, the PM’s rare and unusual allegation was met with a strong rebuttal from Dr. Singh, who demanded that Mr. Modi apologise to the nation for his remarks.
Besides PM Modi and Congress president-elect Mr. Gandhi, the one campaigner who stole the show was Patidar crusader Hardik Patel, who fired up the campaign by holding massive rallies across the State, particularly in Nikol area of the city, where he appealed to voters to teach BJP a “lesson” this time. The 24-year-old even held a road show although the authorities had denied permission for the event.
