Voting underway in Phase 1 of Gujarat polls, famous faces in fray

TIL Desk/National/Ahmedabad/ 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, 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, which has tried to position itself as the main challenger of the ruling party. The BJP and the Congress are contesting in all 89 seats. The Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP is contesting in 88 seats. Its candidate from Surat East constituency had withdrawn his candidature, leaving the party with one less seat to contest in the first phase.

Apart from the BJP, the Congress and the AAP, 36 other political outfits including the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Samajwadi Party, the Communist Party of India-Marxist and the Bharatiya Tribal Party have also fielded candidates in various seats up for grabs the first phase.