Enrich festival of democracy: Gujarat gears up for 2nd phase Assembly polls

Ahmedabad, December 14: Gujarat gears up for the 2nd phase of the Assembly polls today, following a slew of campaign rallies. In the second and final phase, 93 constituencies spread across 14 districts in the state go to polls.

The voting for the second phase of Gujarat Assembly Elections has begun at 8 AM. The voter turnout in the first phase of the polls was 68%. PM Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will also visit their respective constituencies to cast their votes today.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today urged voters to exercise their franchise in 'record numbers' and enrich the festival of democracy.

BJP has fielded 93 candidates, and Congress has fielded 91. Prominent candidates include Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel and Alpesh Thakor of Congress. A three-tier security arrangements has been made to ensure smooth conduct of polls. More than 100 companies of paramilitary forces, apart from state police, have been deployed.

Gujarat, BJP’s stronghold for over last two decades saw Congress party sewing up a broad social coalition with prominent Patidar, OBC, and Dalit leaders in its bid to unseat the ruling party.

The influential Patidar community, which accounts for around 12 per cent of the state’s population, could prove to be the ‘X factor’ in the polls in which agitating quota spearhead Hardik Patel pledged support to the Congress.