Ahmedabad: As the Gujarat election campaign came to an end on Tuesday, the BJP and Congress have aggressively taken head on each other in an effort to woo the voters in their side.On Thursday, Gujarat will go on for the second phase of voting in 93 seats, which is crucial for both the parties. The ruling BJP would like to continue its winning streak for the sixth time in a row, whereas it’s a do or die situation for the grand-old party, looking to revive its prospect after being out of power for several years in the state.
During their electoral campaign, the Congress tried to encash on the depressed minimum support prices of cotton and groundnuts, the GST which has hit hard to the business community, demonetisation and antipathy of the Patel community over reservation issue.
The saffron outfit, on the other hand, sought votes in the name of "development" it carried out across the state since 1995 and "better" law and order situation.In the second phase of election, among heavyweights Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP President Amit Shah and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will arrive in Ahmedabad on Thursday to cast their votes.
The polling will be done in 93 seats, in regions falling under North and Central Gujarat on Thursday.In 2012, the Bharatiya Janata Party had won 52 while the Congress party 39 seats out of these seats.On December 9, polling had taken place for 89 seats in the 182-member House. In this phase, 851 candidates are in the fray for 93 Assembly seats.
Among the aspirants from the BJP side are, Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel from Mehsana, Minister Bhupendra Chudasama (Dholka), Shankar Choudhary (Vav) while the Congress has fielded Sidhartha Patel from Dabhoi, Alpesh Patel (Radhanpur) and supported Dalit activist Jignesh Mevani as an independent candidate from Vadgam. In the first phase, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and state BJP Chief Jitu Vaghani, Congress senior leaders Shaktisinh Gohil, Bharatsinh Solanki and Arjun Modhwadia were in the fray.
The Gujarat assembly polls are being considered as the semi-final for the 2019 general elections and crucial for both the ruling dispensation as well as the main opposition party.The BJP has the largest stake in this election since both Mr Modi and BJP president Amit Shah belong to this state while the Congress has a chance to revive its prospect after being out of power for 22 years. December 18 is set for the counting of votes.(UNI)
