By IANS
Ahmedabad : Polling for the first phase of the Gujarat legislative assembly elections began amidst tight security arrangements Tuesday. The polling is being conducted for 87 assembly constituencies of Saurashtra, Kutch and South Gujarat regions.
Of these Saurashtra and Kutch account for 58 assembly constituencies while the remaining assembly seats are from South Gujarat. With a sizeable number of seats, Saurashtra and Kutch are expected to decide who will form the government in Gandhinagar after declaration of results on Dec 23.
The polling is expected to be slow in the early hours of the day and is expected to pick up as the day progresses, Over the last 12 years the state has been ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). But this time the party is facing major dissidence from within in the areas that go to poll on Tuesday. Prominent dissident leaders Keshubhai Patel and Kanshiram Rana are expected to cast their votes in Rajkot and Surat respectively.
Six of the BJP dissidents are contesting the election in the first phase on Congress tickets. Keshubhai Patel has once again issued an appeal through an advertisement for a change in Gujarat. However, Vajubhai Vala who is contesting from Rajkot says, ” The appeal carries no weight. I am sure our tally will increase in the region.”
The regions have witnessed a high pitched poll campaign from both sides with the BJP’s Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Congress President Sonia Gandhi being the prime campaigners. The campaign was marred with controversies over Sonia Gandhi’s reported remark on calling the Gujarat government led by Modi as “merchants of death” and Modi’s repored justification of the allegedly staged killing of terror suspect Sohrabuddin Sheikh. Both have been served notices by the Election Comission.
Modi has been campaigning on the development plank and the Congress has been rubbishing his claims as a fraud.
The fate of several political heavyweights is to be decided in the first phase of polling. These include sitting cabinet ministers Vajubhai Vala, Saurabh Patel, Narottam Patel, I.K. Jadeja and leader of opposition Arjun Modhvadia.
The largest assembly constituency in terms of voters is Chorasi in Surat with 1,593,907 voters and in terms of area it is Abdasa in Kutch. The smallest constituency is Manavadar in Rajkot with a mere 125,902 voters. Porbander is the constituency which has maximum number of 15 candidates including the sitting leader of opposition Arjun Modhvadia contesting for the seat.
None of the constituencies are witnessing a straight contest. According to the Election Commission, 19,924 Electronic Voting Machines are to be used in an equal number of poling stations for conducting the polls.
The second phase of polls for the 182 assembly seats will be held Dec 16.