Page 5 - Gujarat Elections

Gujarat Assembly polls phase-1 end: 59.2% voter turnout recorded till 5 pm

An average voter turnout of 34.65 per cent wass recorded till 1 pm on Thursday in the first phase of the Gujarat Assembly elections underway in 89 seats across 19 districts of Saurashtra-Kutch and southern regions, the Election Commission said. Voting began at 8 am and 33 ballot units, 29 control units and 69 voter verifiable paper audit trails (VVPATs) were replaced in the first three hours of polling at different stations due to malfunctioning, the office of the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said. As many as 26,269 ballot units, 25,430 control units and 25,430 VVPATs were being used in polling stations across the 19 districts where voting was being held in the first phase to decide the fate of 788 candidates. Even as voting was underway in parts of the state, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed rallies at Kalol in Panchmahal and Chhota Udepur, where the elections will be held in the second phase on December 5. Out of the 19 districts where polling was underway on Thursda

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Gujarat CM holds roadshow in Mehsana for phase-2 of poll campaign

The Chief Minister's roadshow is being held when polling for the first phase in 89 of the 182 constituencies is underway in the state

Amid support for Modi, steady grumble about unemployment in Gujarat

Nearly 3.64 lakh educated and "semi-educated" youngsters had registered with employment exchanges across Gujarat till December 2021, according to state government data. Of them, the highest number of unemployed youths -- 26,921 -- were in Vadodara, followed by Ahmedabad (26,628), Anand (22,515), Rajkot (18,997) and Kheda (16,163) districts. The figures were shared by Labour, Skill Development and Employment Minister Brijesh Merja in his written replies to a set of questions by the opposition Congress during the State Legislative Assembly session in March. Unemployment remains a major issue in Gujarat even as the BJP-ruled state's governance model has been at the core of the Narendra Modi-led dispensation at the Centre. Polling to elect 182-member Gujarat Legislative Assembly is scheduled to be held in two phases on Thursday and December 5. In its recent report titled Unemployment in India - A Statistical Profile', the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), a Mumbai-based pri

PM Modi's home state vote could show trends for 2024 Lok Sabha elections

PM Narendra Modi ruled Gujarat for over a decade before moving to the national stage in 2014

Gujarat Elections: PM Modi to hold 50 km long roadshow in Ahmedabad today

This road show by PM Modi is expected to pass through 16 assembly constituencies that go into polls in the second phase of the Gujarat election on December 5

Voting begins for 1st phase of Gujarat polls; 89 seats, 788 candidates

Polling began at 8 am on Thursday for the first phase of Gujarat Assembly elections in 89 out of the total 182 seats across 19 districts of Saurashtra-Kutch region and southern parts of the state to decide the fate of 788 candidates. The voting is being held across 14,382 polling stations, of which 3,311 are in the urban and 11,071 in rural areas, the office of the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said. Live webcasting is being done from 13,065 polling stations to keep a close eye on the process, it said. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has ruled Gujarat for 27 years, is trying to retain power in the state for the seventh term in a row. If it succeeds, it will equal the record of the Left Front government which won the West Bengal elections for seven consecutive terms till 2011. This time, the BJP faces competition not just from its traditional rival Congress but also the new poll entrant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which has tried to position itself as the main challenger

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Cong asks EC to take action against channels airing 'sponsored' polls

The Congress has urged the Election Commission to take strict action against the alleged airing of "sponsored" opinion polls on the Gujarat assembly election ahead of voting in the first phase on Thursday and claimed it was a brazen attempt to influence the electorate. A delegation of Congress leaders led by AICC legal cell head Vivek Tankha met the Election Commission and apprised the poll body of the "violations by media". The opposition party urged the EC to take action against news channels violating directions issued by it in respect of programmes related to the dissemination of election results. They alleged that the media channels were predicting the poll outcome in a bid to influence the voters and this was a serious issue. Tankha also claimed that they have information concerning the "safety of the ballot boxes" and urged the Commission to ensure there is no tampering. The Congress said it has observed that certain news channels have been publishing/publicising programmes

All set for 1st phase of Gujarat polls in 89 seats; 788 candidates in fray

Voting will be held on Thursday for the first phase of Gujarat Assembly elections in 89 seats spread across 19 districts in Saurashtra-Kutch and southern parts of the state where 788 candidates are in the fray. Campaigning for the first phase of the elections in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled state ended at 5 pm on Tuesday. Voting will be held between 8 am and 5 pm on Thursday across 14,382 polling stations, the office of the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said in a release. Out of the 89 seats going to polls in the first phase, the BJP won 48 in the 2017 election, the Congress had won 40, while one seat was bagged by an independent candidate. Apart from the BJP, Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), 36 other political outfits, including the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Samajwadi Party (SP), Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) have also fielded candidates in various seats which will go to polls in the first phase. The BJP and Congress

Gujarat too will have free electricity from March: Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann

Exuding confidence in the victory of Aam Aadmi Party in the Gujarat polls, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday said that the northwestern state will give free electricity from March

Gujarat Assembly polls: FIR against BJP candidate for 'liquor' remark

In an embarrassment for BJP in Gujarat ahead of the Assembly elections, a candidate allegedly said liquor can be sold openly, leading to the registration of a First Information Report (FIR) against him for indulging in "corrupt practices". Gujarat has a sumptuary law in force that proscribes the manufacture, storage, sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages. The FIR was lodged against Latubhai Parghi, the BJP's nominee from the Danta seat in Banaskantha district, by a poll official after a video of a public meeting addressed by him on November 26 went viral, police said on Wednesday. Parghi purportedly told a group of women they will be allowed to sell liquor openly in a basket and need not hide it. "Liquor will be made available without the need for secrecy," he said, as per the FIR. The complaint was lodged against Parghi by Returning Officer Harshaben Raval at Danta police station on Tuesday. The complainant provided the police with the CD containing the video of the speech m

Centre, other states can also consider anti-radicalisation cell, says Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has downplayed AAP's challenge in Gujarat polls, claiming Arvind Kejriwal's party may not even open its account, and said the BJP state unit's announcement of setting up anti-radicalisation cell is a good initiative that can be considered by other states and the Centre. In an interview to PTI, Shah described Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity, all-round development of Gujarat during his tenure as the state chief minister and the implementation of zero appeasement policy as the main reasons for people repeatedly reposing faith in the BJP over the last 27 years. The BJP will register an unprecedented victory in Gujarat. People have full faith in our party and our leader Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said Shah, who has been crisscrossing the state and addressing five rallies a day in the run-up to the two-phase polls on December 1 and 5. On the question of AAP entering Gujarat assembly elections, the BJP leader said, Every party has a right to cont

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Gujarat polls: Cong focuses on Bharat Jodo Yatra; AAP leads on social media

With less than one week left for the high octane poll battle in Gujarat to end, the ruling BJP and new player AAP have intensified their online campaigning to reach out to the voters active on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. At the same time, the Congress' main social media handles have focused more on promoting Rahul Gandhi's 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' than the party's campaigning for the two-phase assembly elections on December 1 and 5. Counting of votes will be taken up on December 8. An analysis of Facebook accounts and Twitter handles last week (Nov 21-27) of the three parties showed that Congress' handles were more attentive to Rahul Gandhi's 'Bharat Jodo Yatra', as 75 per cent of the total posts were on the yatra. Less than 20 per cent of the posts on its Facebook page and the Twitter handle were on the party's campaigning in Gujarat elections. On the other hand, about 40 per cent of the posts from the Bhartiya Janata Party's main Facebook page and Twitter handle

Today marks last day of campaigning for 1st phase of Gujarat Assembly polls

The campaigning for the first phase of elections in 89 out of the total 182 seats in Gujarat will end on Tuesday. Elections for the first phase will be held on December 1. Voting for the remaining 93 seats will be held on December 5. Bharatiya Janata Party president J P Nadda and Union minister Smriti Irani will on Tuesday campaign in Bhavnagar and Gandhidham (Kutch district), respectively, for the BJP candidates contesting in the first phase. Among notable candidates in the first phase is Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) chief ministerial face Isudan Gadhvi, who is contesting from Khambhalia seat in Devbhumi Dwarka district. Former Gujarat minister Parshottam Solanki, six-time MLA Kunwarji Bavaliya, Morbi 'hero' Kantilal Amrutiya, Indian cricketer Ravindra Jadeja's wife Rivaba and Gujarat AAP president Gopal Italia are also among the prominent candidates in the fray for the first phase of the state Assembly elections. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Nadda and

AAP's CM face Gadhvi locked in triangular contest in Gujarat's Khambhalia

The contest in Khambhalia has emerged as one to watch out for after the Aam Aadmi Party's chief ministerial candidate Isudan Gadhvi decided to contest from the seat where he is locked in a keen triangular fight with incumbent Congress MLA Vikram Madam and BJP's Mulubhai Bera. A popular Gujarati news anchor before entering politics by joining the AAP, Gadhvi enjoys a good image and has emerged as his party's main campaigner in the state but social equations in the constituency pose a challenge to him, poll watchers say. Both Madam, a seasoned politician and also a former Lok Sabha MP, and Bera, a former state government minister, come from the Ahir community, which is the largest caste in the seat where Muslim votes are also significant. Poll watchers say caste will play an important role in deciding voting preference and the AAP leader, whose community Gadhvi is numerically much less, has a disadvantage and Muslims may prefer the Congress. However, Gadhvi has projected himself as t

'Economy grew 1 position under economist PM, is 5th largest under chaiwala'

With just two days remaining before Gujarat goes to polls in the first phase, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday escalated his tirade against Congress accusing it of stopping armed forces from acting against terrorism when it was in power due to vote bank politics and took a jibe at former PM Manmohan Singh over the slow pace of economy in ten years of the UPA rule. Modi said the country's economy climbed up by only one position to reach the tenth spot despite a renowned economist being the PM for ten years but it became the fifth largest in the last eight years under a government led by a "chaiwala". He also slammed the Congress for its "divide and rule" strategy over the participation of anti-Narmada activist Medha Patkar in Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra. The prime minister addressed rallies in support of BJP candidates at Palitana, Anjar, Jamnagar, and Rajkot seeking another term for the BJP in his home state where the party has been in power for the last 27 years. The ra

Scuffle between workers of AAP and BJP during Kejriwal's Surat road show

A scuffle broke out between supporters of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday during Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's roadshow in Surat city in poll-bound Gujarat. The incident occurred in Katargam locality in the evening after BJP workers chanted 'Modi, Modi' when the convoy of vehicles in Kejriwal's roadshow was passing through the area. Kejriwal claimed a stone was hurled when the roadshow was passing. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone-3), Pinakin Parmar, said Kejriwal was provided Z-plus security in the 4-km roadshow with CAPF (Central Armed Police Force). "The rally passed off peacefully. No incident of hurling of stones took place. A minor scuffle broke out between party workers but the police controlled the situation," he said. "When we were moving, their (apparently referring to BJP) supporters threw a stone at us. I was thinking had they done any work in the last 27 years they would not have needed to throw stones. I would like

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