Prime Minister Narendra Modi waited in the queue to vote at booth 115 at the Nishan High School in Ahmedabad’s Ranip locality, and then walked down the road holding up his inked finger as a big crowd gathered to greet him roared.
Earlier today the PM had urged people to vote in large numbers in the second and final phase of the assembly elections. The Prime Minister is the face of the BJP’s campaign in his home state in what is seen as a contest between him and Rahul Gandhi, who is set to be Congress president.
BJP Chief Amit Shah visited a temple after voting along with his son. PM Modi’s mother Heeraben, 95, has voted in Gandhinagar, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Ahmedabad. Polling began at 8 this morning and has been slow in the first few hours, with the overall turnout recorded at 11.7 percent till 10 am .
This phase is vital for the BJP with many urban centres, which have traditionally backed the party. It hopes for a good voter turnout and PM Modi has urged the state to vote in large numbers.
The BJP’s big challenge in this round is to retain Ahmedabad and Vadodara, Gujarat’s two megacities that had overwhelmingly backed the party in the last election.
The BJP had won 26 of the 31 seats from these two districts alone. Overall, of the 93 constituencies voting today, the BJP had won 52 last time, and the Congress had won 39.
