New Delhi: Polling began on Thursday for the first phase of Gujarat Assembly elections in 89 out of the total 182 seats across 19 districts of the Saurashtra-Kutch region as well as the southern parts.
Several Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders cast their votes in the early hours of polling including the state's Civil Aviation Minister Purnesh Modi, Agriculture Minister Raghavji Patel, former chief minister Vijay Rupani, Gujarat BJP chief CR Paatil and party's Jamnagar candidate Rivaba Jadeja.
Before casting his vote, CR Paatil remarked, "Modi magic works every time, everywhere. He is in people's hearts. They trust him and he's capable of meeting their expectations." When asked about the "aukaat" remark by Congress leaders, he added, "Those who said that will get to know of their aukaat", as quoted by news agency ANI.
"There's no difficulty. There can be people of different ideologies in the same family. I have trust in the people of Jamnagar, we will focus on overall development, and this time as well BJP will win with a good margin," BJP candidate Rivaba Jadeja said after casting her vote, as quoted by ANI.
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Former CM Vijay Rupani also expressed confidence in the BJP's win saying, "I appeal to people to cast their votes. Voting is necessary to safeguard democracy. I am confident that BJP is going to form the Govt in Gujarat for the seventh time. People have love and respect for PM Modi, they won't go anywhere else."
Meanwhile, Congress leader Arjun Modhwadia told ANI that, "People have taken a resolve to remove BJP. BJP knows about this that's why they changed the cabinet, including CM, a year ago. There were corruption allegations against them. New Govt running just like that. So, people are in the mood for change."
The statements come as electors decide the fate of 788 candidates who are in the fray in this first phase of polling.
The voting is being held across 14,382 polling stations, of which 3,311 are in the urban and 11,071 in rural areas, as per the office of the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO).
This time, the BJP faces competition not just from its traditional rival Congress but also the new entrant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which has tried to position itself as the main challenger this time.
The BJP has ruled Gujarat for 27 years and is trying to retain power in the state for the seventh term in a row.
If it succeeds, it will equal the record of the Left Front government which won the West Bengal elections for seven consecutive terms till 2011.
The BJP and the Congress are contesting in all 89 seats. The Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP is contesting 88 seats.