• Gujarat Election 2022: Voting underway for 89 seats, Ex-CM Vijay Rupani, candidates and MLAs cast votes

    Politics
    Gujarat Election 2022: Voting underway for 89 seats, Ex-CM Vijay Rupani, candidates and MLAs cast votes
    Amit Shah is scheduled to hold a roadshow in Sanand at 11.30 AM, and PM Modi will launch his campaign with a speech at a rally in Panchmahal's Kalol at 11 AM. On December 5, there will be a second round of voting.

    Digital Desk: During the first hour of voting in Gujarat's first-phase Assembly elections, 4.58 percent voter turnout was recorded. Voting for the 89 seats up for grabs in 19 districts began at 8 a.m. on Thursday and will last until 5 p.m. at 14,382 polling places, according to the state chief electoral officer's office. BJP leader JP Nadda, Home Minister Amit Shah, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will all campaign for the saffron party on Thursday for the second round of voting.

    Amit Shah is scheduled to hold a roadshow in Sanand at 11.30 AM, and PM Modi will launch his campaign with a speech at a rally in Panchmahal's Kalol at 11 AM. On December 5, there will be a second round of voting.

    This year, Gujarat will see a strong three-way struggle between the incumbent BJP, which wants to keep control of the state, the Congress, which wants to make a return, and the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which wants to replicate its success in Punjab. The AAP's candidate from the Surat East constituency withdrew his candidacy, leaving the party with one fewer seat to defend in the first round of voting while the BJP and Congress are both vying for 89 seats.
     
    Isudan Gadhvi, the AAP's candidate for chief ministerial  (from the Devbhumi seat of Kambhalia), Gopal Italia, the state unit president of the party (from Katargam in Surat), Rivaba Jadeja, and the BJP MLAs Harsh Sanghavi and Purnesh Modi, Lalit Kagathara, Lalit Vasoya, and Rutvik Makwana are among the prominent candidates running in this phase.


    PM Modi, Union Home Minister Shah, BJP President JP Nadda, chief ministers of BJP-ruled states, including CM Yogi Adityanath of Uttar Pradesh, and several other ministers and state leaders led the BJP's campaign. The most frequent campaigners for AAP were Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. President Mallikarjun Kharge and Rajasthan's chief minister Ashok Gehlot participated in the Congress' election campaign.