Polling for the first phase of the Gujarat Assembly polls started at 8 am on Thursday as 788 candidates fight for the 89 seats up for grabs across 19 districts. Voting will continue till 5 pm across 14,382 polling stations, the office of the state Chief Electoral Officer said. This year, Gujarat is witnessing a three-way fierce contest with the ruling BJP looking to retain its power with the state, the Congress planning to make a comeback, and the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) hoping to repeat what it did in Punjab. While both the BJP and Congress are contesting 89 seats, AAP is fighting in only 88 seats.
Among the prominent candidates contesting in this phase are AAP’s chief ministerial candidate Isudan Gadhvi (Khambhalia seat in Devbhumi), AAP state unit president Gopal Italia (from Katargam in Surat), Rivaba Jadeja, and BJP MLAs Harsh Sanghavi and Purnesh Modi, Lalit Kagathara, Lalit Vasoya, Rutvik Makwana. BJP’s campaign was led by PM Modi, Union Home Minister, Shah, BJP president JP Nadda, chief ministers of BJP-ruled states including Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath , and a number of other ministers and state leaders.Congress leader Rahul Gandhi urged his brothers and sisters in Gujarat to vote for a ‘progressive future of Gujarat’For the progressive future of Gujarat, vote in large numbers and make this festival of democracy a success."Rahul Gandhi is currently leading Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra through Madhya Pradesh. The yatra will enter Congress-ruled Rajasthan on December 4.