The first of the two phases of voting for the Gujarat assembly will be held on December 1 when 89 constituencies will go to the polls in an election in which the ruling BJP is looking for a record seventh successive term.
The entry of Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party has made the Gujarat election, which used to be a straight fight between the BJP and Congress, a triangular contest.
In the first phase, 788 candidates are in the fray across 19 districts of South Gujarat and Kutch-Saurashtra region, according to the Gujarat Chief Electoral Officer. Of these candidates, 70 are women and 339 independents.
Among the 89 seats, 14 are reserved for Scheduled Tribes and seven for Dalits. Polling will open at 8 am and continue till 5.30 pm.
Of the 2,39,76,670 voters who can exercise their franchise in the first phase, 1,24,33,362 are male, 1,15,42,811 are female and 497 are third gender voters.
The Election Commission of India has set up 25,430 polling booths for phase one, of these, 16,416 are in rural areas and 9,014 in urban areas.
The second phase of voting for the 182-member assembly will be held on December 5 and the votes counted on December 8.
The BJP is confident and claims its haul of seats this time will break all records. The party has denied ticket to 42 of its sitting MLAs. It has to contend with 19 rebels, nine of whom are in the race in the first phase.
The party position performed strongly in the 2017 Assembly elections when it won 77 seats and restricted the BJP to 99.
Also read: BJP will get re-elected in Gujarat, says Amit Shah
The Congress did well in 2017 when it won 77 seats and restricted the BJP to 99 but got off to a late start this time, occupied with the election of the party president. Senior leader Rahul Gandhi addressed two poll meetings, which some experts said were too little, too late.
Read more: Cong misses backroom strategist Ahmed Patel as it faces first Gujarat election since his demise
They see AAP as a bigger threat to the Congress than the BJP, expecting a vote shift to the new entrant.
AAP has fielded 181 candidates and announced former journalist Isudan Gadhvi as its chief ministerial candidate. The party has pitched itself as the BJP rival.
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