Gujarat, Dec 5: Prime Minister Narendra Modi cast his vote in the second phase of assembly elections in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad on Monday.
PM Modi exercised his franchise at Nishan Public School, Ranip in Ahmedabad. Earlier, he left from Gandhinagar Raj Bhawan to cast his vote.
PM Modi also greeted people on his way to the school ahead of casting his vote. At the polling booth, he stood in the queue waiting for his turn to vote.
Earlier today, he urged the people of the state to vote in large numbers. The voting began at 8 am today and will continue till 5 pm.
“Urging all those who are voting in Phase 2 of the Gujarat elections, particularly the young voters and women voters to vote in large numbers. I will be casting my vote in Ahmedabad at around 9 AM,” PM Modi tweeted.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah will also cast his vote in the second phase in Ahmedabad today.
Polling in the second and final phase is being conducted for 93 Assembly constituencies across 14 districts of north and central Gujarat. As many as 833 candidates from 61 parties are in the fray in the second phase of the Gujarat elections whose fate will be decided by over 2.51 crore electorates.
The Election Commission has established 26,409 polling booths and nearly 36,000 Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will be used for the purpose. Around 29,000 presiding officers and over 84,000 polling officers have been deployed in 14 districts to facilitate the polls.
According to Gujarat’s Chief Electoral Officer P Bharathi, of the total 26,409 polling stations, 93 are model polling booths, 93 are eco-friendly booths, another 93 are managed by Divyang and 14 are managed by youth. Webcasting is being done in 13,319 polling booths in the second phase.
“Total of 2,51,58,730 voters will vote, of which, 1,29,26,501 are men, 1,22,31,335 are women and 894 are from the third gender,” Bharathi said.
The 93 poll-bound seats in the second phase are spread across Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Mehsana, Patan, Banaskantha, Sabarkantha, Aravali, Mahisagar, Panchmahal, Dahod, Vadodara, Anand, Kheda and Chhota Udaipur districts.
Among the key constituencies in the final phase are Ghatlodia, which will determine the poll fate of Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel; Viramgam where Patidar leader Hardik Patel will contest as a BJP candidate, and Gandhinagar South where the saffron party has fielded Alpesh Thakor.
The Leader of the Opposition, Congress’ Sukhram Rathava will contest from Chhota Udaipur, while Lakhabhai Bharwad, Jignesh Mevani and Amee Yajnik are some other prominent Congress names from Viramgam, Vadgam and Ghatlodia seats.
From the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Bharat Vakhala from Devgadhbaria, Bheema Chaudhary from Deodar, Dolat Patel from Gandhinagar South, Kunwarji Thakor from Viramgam and Vijay Patel from Ghatlodia will test their electoral fortunes in the second and final phase on Monday.
The high-octane campaigning for the second phase of the Gujarat Assembly elections came to an end on Saturday evening, which saw big shots across parties trying to woo voters.
Among prominent names who will cast their votes in the final phase in Gujarat are PM Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel, Isudan Gadhvi, Gujarat Congress president Jagdish Thakor and cricketers Irfan Pathan, Hardik Pandya and Krunal Pandya.
During the first phase of polling on December 1, Gujarat saw an overall turnout of 63.14 per cent. The voting began at 8 am in 89 constituencies spread across 19 districts of Kutch, Saurashtra and South Gujarat regions.
The first phase of voting for 89 seats in Kutch, Saurashtra and South Gujarat ended on December 1, with an overall turnout of 63.31 per cent.
The results of the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh Assembly election will be announced on December 8. (Agencies)

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Sunday announced to expand the ambit of Military Literature Festival (MLF) by hosting it at district and university level across the state.

The Chief Minister, while chairing the felicitation ceremony of the Military Literature Festival here, congratulated the organising committee for holding this mega event every year.

He said that in the future, the state government will hold this festival at district and university level to apprise the youth about the rich legacy of the armed forces, and rekindle the motivating spirit for joining the Army in them.

Mann said this is the need of hour to imbibe a feeling of nationalism and patriotism amongst youth thereby inspiring them to join the Armed forces.

Lauding the pivotal role of armed forces in making India the biggest and successful democracy of the world, the Chief Minister said that democracy had thrived in India successfully because the armed forces have played a key role in safeguarding its ethos.

He said apart from safeguarding the borders of the country, the armed forces have also upheld the unity, integrity and sovereignty of the nation. Mann said due to this only India has today emerged as the most successful democracy across the globe.

Citing the example of Pakistan, the Chief Minister said democracy has never survived there as the Army has toppled the elected governments in the neighbouring country a number of times.

However, he said, on the contrary, in India democracy has been a successful phenomenon due to the active role of the armed forces. Mann said due to this only the common man like him has today become Chief Minister of the state.

The Chief Minister also hailed the Indian Army for its dedication, commitment and patriotism. Likewise, he said that bravery and heroism of the Indian Army finds no parallel in the world. Mann said the Indian armed forces have scripted several inspirational stories with their valour.

On the occasion the Chief Minister also released books and felicitated eminent persons who had participated in the fest.