Gujarat, Dec 5: Voting has begun across 93 Assembly seats in 14 districts of Gujarat during the second phase of the state elections. The 93 Assembly segments that are going to polls are spread across Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Gandhinagar and other districts, and the polling will continue till 5 PM.
In the second phase of elections, 833 candidates are in the fray from 61 political parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and Congress.
While Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP and the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP are contesting in all the 93 seats, the Congress is fighting in 90 seats and its alliance partner Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has fielded candidates in two seats.
Among other parties, the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) has fielded 12 candidates, and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) 44. According to Election Commission, the nominees also include 285 independent candidates. A total of 2.51 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise for the second phase of elections, including 1.29 crore men and 1.22 crore women, and the poll body has set up 14,975 polling stations for which 1.13 lakh election staffers have been deployed. There are 5.96 lakh voters in the age group of 18 to 19 years.
Some of the important constituencies in the second phase include Ghatlodia (in Ahmedabad district) of Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, Viramgam seat (Ahmedabad) from where Patidar leader Hardik Patel is fighting on the BJP’s ticket, and Gandhinagar South from where Alpesh Thakor is fighting as the saffron party candidate.
Besides, Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani is contesting as the Congress candidate from the Vadgam seat in Banaskantha district, and Leader of Opposition in the Gujarat Assembly Sukhram Rathva is the nominee from Jetpur in Chhota Udepur district. BJP rebel Madhu Shrivastav is contesting as an independent candidate from the Vaghodia seat in the Vadodara district.
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