LS polls: Counting of votes at 28 centres in Gujarat

Counting of votes for elections to 26 Lok Sabha constituencies and bypolls in four Assembly seats of Gujarat will be taken up on Thursday at 28 centres across the state, a senior official said.

Polling for all the 26 Lok Sabha and four Assembly seats was held in a single phase on April 23, recording a voter turnout of 64.11 per cent, the highest in the state since 1976 when there was around 63.77 voting.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah witnessed 63.66 per cent polling.

The BJP at that time won all the 26 seats.

"Counting of votes will be held on Thursday at 28 centres. Elaborate security arrangements have been made at all the counting centres," state Chief Electoral Officer S Murali Krishnan said in a release.

Chief Minister Vijay Rupani expressed confidence that the BJP will retain all the 26 seats in the state.

"There is a Modi 'wave', people of the state are enthusiastic to make Modi the prime minister again. The results are certain," Rupani told reporters in Gandhinagar.

Gujarat Congress chief Amit Chavda, however, claimed his party will win at least 10 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

"The results of Gujarat will surprise all," he said.

In the 2017 state Assembly polls to 182 seats, the Congress won 77 seats while the BJP bagged 99 and came to power with a wafer thing majority.

The Congress is hoping to repeat that performance in the Lok Sabha polls.

The main contenders from the BJP this time were party chief Amit Shah from Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat and Union minister Jaswantsinh Bhabhor from Dahod.

The Congress fielded former Union minister Bharatsinh Solanki from Anand and its leader of opposition in the Assembly Paresh Dhanani from Amreli seat.