Under the second phase of Gujarat Assembly elections, voting will be held for 93 seats in 14 districts, including Ahmedabad and Vadodara, across north and central regions on Monday. More than 2.5 crore people are eligible to vote in Phase II.
There are 833 candidates in the fray, including high-profile candidates such as Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel from Ghatlodia in Ahmedabad. The Congress has fielded Rajya Sabha member Amee Yajnik against him.
Also, several other heavyweights such as OBC leader Alpesh Thakor, Patidar quota agitation leader Hardik Patel, Dalit activist Jignesh Mevani are in the fray in the last round of polling in the Assembly polls.
The Election Commission has set up 26,409 booths and nearly 36,000 Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will be engaged. Around 29,000 presiding officers and over 84,000 polling officers have been deployed in 14 districts to facilitate the polling process.
According to Gujarat’s Chief Electoral Officer P. Bharathi, of the total 26,409 polling stations, 93 are model booths, 93 are eco-friendly booths, another 93 are managed by Divyang and 14 are managed by youth. Webcasting will be done in 13,319 booths in the second phase.
In Ahmedabad, there are 21 seats in the city and district.
Modi, Shah to vote
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel will be voting in Ahmedabad at different booths.
The Prime Minister is a registered voter from the Ranip area and had cast his vote in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Mr. Shah will cast his vote at a municipal sub-zonal office in the Naranpura locality of the city.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets his mother Hiraba at her residence on the eve of second phase of Gujarat Assembly elections in Gandhinagar on December 4, 2022. | Photo Credit: PTI
Mr. Modi arrived in Ahmedabad on Sunday, visited his mother to seek her blessings and then held a review meeting at the State BJP headquarters in Gandhinagar.
Besides Ahmedabad, Vadodara city will also be voting in the second phase. Other districts to witness polling are Banaskantha, Patan, Mehsana and Sabarkantha in north Gujarat and Anand, Kheda, Panchmahal and Dahod in central Gujarat.
There are several ST and SC reserved seats across the 14 districts. Among the top tribal leaders in the fray are Leader of the Opposition Sukhram Rathwa from central Gujarat and former Union Minister Tushar Chaudhary from Khedbrahma in north Gujarat.
The first phase polling was held on December 1, while the counting is scheduled for December 8.
