As the second phase of the Gujarat Assembly elections concluded on Thursday, with voting for 93 seats across 14 districts, exit polls unanimously predicted the BJP emerging victorious in both Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh with a comfortable majority.
Notwithstanding the Patidar agitation and the concerns over the GST implementation, all polls showed the BJP romping home in Gujarat.
While the News Nation and Today’s Chanakya -News 24 polls predicted the BJP getting a mean of 120 and 135 seats respectively in 182-member Assembly, the AajTak- Axis exit poll said the BJP would get 99-113 seats and the Congress 68-82.
The polls also predicted a complete sweep for the BJP in Himachal Pradesh. The surveys showed the BJP winning upwards of 42 seats in the 68 member Assembly with the Congress getting between 13 and 23 seats.
Peaceful polling
“Except a few incidents of law and order and a few complaints of technical glitches in the EVMs, the voting was peaceful across over 25,000 polling booths in 14 districts in North and Central Gujarat regions,” Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) B.B. Swain told media persons after polling ended on Thursday evening.
The EC’s provisional turnout figure for the second phase at 68.7% was marginally higher than the 66.74% registered in the first phase in Saurashtra and south Gujarat for 89 seats.
The highest voting was registered in north Gujarat districts of Sabarkantha (77%), Mehsana (75%) and Banaskantha (74%), while Ahmedabad registered the lowest voting of 63%.
A controversy erupted as Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a “roadshow” after casting his ballot in the Sabarmati area of Ahmedabad.
The Congress lodged a strong complaint, terming the roadshow a violation of the Model Code of Conduct. Mr. Swain, however, said the Ahmedabad Collector was asked to submit a report on the roadshow.
