Gujarat: Polling for 26 LS seats, bypoll in 4 Assembly seats

BJP chief Amit Shah and 370 other candidates are in the poll fray in Gujarat where voting for all the 26 Lok Sabha seats will be held in a single phase Tuesday.

BJP had won all the 26 seats in the 2014 elections.

Poll officials said bypoll in Dhrangadhra, Manavadar, Unjha and Jamnagar (Rural) Assembly seats in the state will also be held Tuesday. Altogether 45 candidates are contesting from these four seats, they added.

The bypolls were necessitated after Congress MLAs in the four seats quit and joined the BJP.

The Talala Assembly bypoll, which was to be held simultaneously on Tuesday, was stayed by the Supreme Court.

Altogether 51,851 booths have been set up, state chief electoral officer S Murali Krishnasaid.

The state police and central security forces have been deployed in large numbers to guard the polling booths.

While Shah is contesting from Gandhinagar Lok Sabha Seat, Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Jaswantsinh Bhabhor, is the BJP nominee from Dahod seat.

Former minister Bharat Solanki of the Congress is contesting from Anand Lok Sabha seat while Leader of Opposition in state Assembly Paresh Dhanani is the party's nominee from Amreli.

The high-octane poll campaign saw Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress chief Rahul Gandhi holding several rallies in the state.

Gujarat has 4,51,52,373 eligible voters, including 10.06 lakh first-time voters and 1.68 lakh divyangs, Krishna told reporters here Monday