By IANS
Ahmedabad : Three Gujarat regions will Tuesday vote in the first phase of assembly elections whose outcome is sure to impact political equations nationally, with the central issue being Chief Minister Narendra Modi himself.
The first round will see polling in 87 constituencies from Saurashtra, Kutch and south Gujarat where 668 candidates are in the fray.
While the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is contesting all 87 seats, the Congress has fielded 82 candidates with the remaining seats going to its allies.
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), a new entrant in Gujarat, is contesting 78 seats.
The second phase Sunday will cover the remaining 95 seats in north and central Gujarat as well as the tribal belt.
The issues before the electorate include economic development as well as the communal divide. In other words, observers see the poll as a referendum on Modi, one of the most talked about personalities in Indian politics.
The election campaign for the first phase, which ended Sunday evening, was unusually acrimonious with Modi and Congress president Sonia Gandhi trading charges – and receiving notice from the Election Commission after complaints that they had violated the code of conduct.
Addressing a rally in Saurashtra Dec 2, Gandhi said “merchants of death” were at large in Gujarat. Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh followed it up with the remark that the state was witnessing “Hindu terrorism”.
They were referring to the alleged communal bias of the Modi government and the way it handled the 2002 violence – an issue largely seen as the reason behind the unprecedented victory of Modi’s BJP later that year.
In reply that produced fireworks, Modi virtually justified the extra-judicial killing of a Muslim branded as terrorist.
While Modi replied to the poll panel notice saying he was misquoted in some media reports, he demanded action against Gandhi. The Commission served her and Digvijay Singh notices Sunday.
But the biggest challenge for Modi, the first chief minister to complete a full-term of five years after leading the BJP to victory winning a record 127 seats, come from within the party.
Both former chief ministers of the party – Keshubhai Patel in Saurshtra and Suresh Mehta in Kutch – have branded him an autocrat and sided with BJP rebels, some of whom are contesting as Congress candidates.
Saurashtra is expected to be the region that would decide the winner. Along with Kutch, it accounts for 58 seats.
The BJP had 39 of these 58 seats in 2002 – down from 52 of 1998. This time the party faces an uphill task because of the dissidents, apart from the anti-incumbency factor.
Some of the key leaders in the fray for the first phase are Finance Minister Vajubhai Vala and Urban Development Minister I.K. Jadeja as well as Arjun Modhvadia, the leader of opposition in the outgoing assembly.