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since 1995 in a triangular contest involving the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
Today is the last day for campaign for the Gujarat Assembly polls. The first phase of the polls for 89 seats were held on December 1. The BJP, which has ruled the state for 27 years, is seeking to win a straight seventh term. If it succeeds, it will equal the record of the Left Front government which had ruled in West Bengal for seven consecutive terms till 2011.
Meanwhile, Congress leader and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday claimed there is a clear anti-incumbency wave against the BJP government in Gujarat due to which PM Modi campaigned aggressively in the state. “The anti-government wave is very strong there (in Gujarat) and this is why Modi ji is visiting so many places across the state… Recently, he held a mega 50-km-long roadshow. One needs to think why is the situation such,” Gehlot told reporters in Kota.
What is the reason behind the prime minister camping in Gujarat and neglecting issues of national and international importance. It only means that Modi fears losing the election, Gehlot further said.
In the first phase of voting on December 1 of the Gujarat Assembly elections, an average voter turnout of 63.31 per cent was recorded in 89 seats, the Election Commission said on Friday while announcing final figures. The turnout was lower than the 66.75 per cent recorded in the first phase in the same 89 constituencies in the 2017 state elections.
Polling for the first phase in 19 districts of Saurashtra, Kutch and south Gujarat was held on Thursday. The fate of 788 candidates was sealed in Electronic Voting Machines.
The second phase of 2022 elections for remaining 93 seats with 833 candidates in the fray will be held on December 5, and votes will be counted on December 8.
Apart from the BJP, Congress and AAP, 36 other political outfits, including the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Samajwadi Party (SP), Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) have also fielded candidates in various seats which will go to polls in the second phase.
MCD Polls:
The campaigning ended for the December 4 Municipal Corporation of Delhi polls on Friday. On the last day of campaigning, the AAP on Friday attacked the BJP, saying people do not want a “corrupt” party like it to come to power in the civic body.
AAP leaders, including Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, held roadshows in 250 wards of the national capital, while its candidates held foot marches in more than 500 areas of the city, the party said In the run up to the polls, the party has held 14,862 jansamvaads, nukkad sabhas, door-to-door campaigns, padyatras and nukkad nataks to reach out the electorate.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal held an interactive session with yoga teachers and traders, while Sisodia, Delhi AAP convenor Gopal Rai, Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Gupta, ministers Kailash Gahlot and Raaj Kumar Anand, Punjab Minister Sardar Harjot Bains, AAP leader Mahabal Mishra and MLA Durgesh Pathak led roadshows in the city’s 250 wards.
As part of its campaign, the AAP repeatedly targeted the BJP over its “failure” to clear the three landfill sites in Delhi’s Ghazipur, Okhla and Bhalswa during its tenure in the municipal corporation. Over the years, fires have broken out at these dumping yards which have tonnes of legacy waste, leaving neighbouring areas shrouded in smoke for days. Both the AAP and the BJP have exuded confidence that they will romp home with a majority in the MCD polls.
Meanwhile, the BJP on Friday attacked AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal for “patronising rioters and the corrupt” as the party’s top leaders wrapped up campaigning for the civic polls on the last day with over 250 ‘vijay sankalp’ roadshows across the city.
Voting for 250 wards of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) will be held on December 4 and results declared on December 7.
During the 13-day run, the BJP organised over 1,000 roadshows, street-corner meetings, door-to-door campaigns with top party leaders, including National President JP Nadda, senior Union ministers and chief ministers of party-ruled states.
As many as 19 Union ministers, chief ministers of six states, two deputy chief ministers and 31 MPs took part in the campaign.
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