70% voter turnout in phase-II of Gujarat Assembly polls

Chief Minister Narendra Modi was among the first to cast vote in Ranip area of Ahmedabad

The second and final phase of the Gujarat elections on Monday for for 95 of the 182-seat legislative Assembly saw voter turnout of 70.02 per cent.

The results of the elections, where Modi is seeking a third term as chief minister, will be announced on Thursday.

Polling for the final phase remained mostly peaceful, except for a firing incident in Panchmahals involving a sitting BJP MLA, Jetha Bharwad, who was detained with his personal security personnel.

The first phase (87 seats) of elections on December 13 was free of violence, and saw a record voter turnout of 70.75 per cent.

DISTRICT-WISE AVERAGE POLLING
District	Polling (%)

Banaskantha72.0 Sabarkantha72.0 Gandhinagar72.0 Panchamahal72.0 Kutch64.5 Ahmedabad 70.0 Patan70.0 Mehsana71.0 Anand71.0 Kheda70.0 Dahod68.0 Vadodara70.0 All figures are approximate till 8 pm. 
Source: Election Commission

Chief Minister Narendra Modi was among the first to cast his vote in the Ranip area of Ahmedabad. He said he was confident of a third term in office. “Looking at the overwhelming support of the people of Gujarat, I am confident we are heading for a hat-trick,” he said after casting his vote.

When asked about his role in national politics, Modi said, “I am happy in Gujarat. I am committed to the people of Gujarat. I believe I am also serving the nation by serving Gujarat. Gujarat is not outside our country.”

Senior BJP leader L K Advani and Rajya Sabha MP from the state, Arun Jaitley, were also in Ahmedabad to cast their votes.

Also in the fray are 18 ministers, including six of Cabinet rank. Those close to Modi contesting the elections include Revenue Minister Anandi Patel, Urban Development Minister Nitin Patel, Health Minister Jaynarayan Vyas, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Fakirbhai Vaghela and Industries Minister Saurabh Patel. Other BJP ministers in the fray include Vana Ahir from Anjar, Parbatsinh Patel (Tharad), Liladhar Vaghela (Deesa), Praful Patel (Himmatnagar), Ramanlal Vora (Ider), Jaysinh Chauhan (Prantij), Pradipsinh Jadeja (Vatva), Jaydrathsinh Parmar (Halol) and Jashwantsinh Bhabhor (Limkheda).

From the Congress, former chief minister Shankersinh Vaghela is contesting from Kapadvanj in Kheda district.

An unusual entry into state politics this time is Jagruti Pandya, wife of slain BJP leader Haren Pandya. Jagruti is contesting on a GPP ticket from Ellis bridge constituency, which has been a BJP stronghold for 15 years. There were 19.9 million eligible voters in the second phase, of which 70.02 per cent voted to decide the fate of 820 candidates, including Narendra Modi, whose Congress opponent is Shweta Bhatt, wife of suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt.

There are 49 women in fray in the second phase as against 46 in the first phase.

The second phase is held across 12 districts, covering north, central and Kutch regions, with 10.3 million male and 9.5 million female voters. There were 23,318 polling booths spread over the 95 constituencies (six in Kutch, 27 in north Gujarat and 62 in central Gujarat), with 7,256 micro observers keeping a watch to ensure smooth polling.

The BJP fielded candidates for all the 95 seats. Congress is contesting in 92 seats, while its ally, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), is contesting in three seats.

The Keshubhai Patel-headed Gujarat Parivartan Party (GPP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have fielded 84 candidates each. There are 284 Independent candidates, and 181 candidates are from other parties.

In the entire exercise, 160,000 state government employees were engaged, state election commission had said on Sunday. State police and central paramilitary forces have been deployed at all the polling booths. Additional security forces have been stationed in sensitive areas identified by the Election Commission.