Campaigning ends for Gujarat LS polls: BJP aims to repeat sweep despite Cong-AAP alliance

Ahmedabad, May 5 (PTI) Campaigning for polls to 25 of 26 Lok Sabha seats and bypolls to five assembly constituencies ended in Gujarat at 6pm on Saturday, with voting scheduled for May 7.The BJP’s Mukesh Dalal has already won from Surat unopposed after the nomination of Congress’ Nilesh Kumbhani was rejected over irregularities in the signature of proposers and other candidates withdrew.Among the prominent candidates in the fray are Union Home Minister Amit Shah from Gandhinagar, as well as his cabinet colleagues Mansukh Mandaviya and Parshottam Rupala from Porbandar and Rajkot, respectively.

During the campaign, the BJP had to face the ire of the Kshatriya community over a remark made by Rupala in Rajkot. He had claimed several rulers from the community had “roti and beti” (marriage and trade) relations with the British and other foreign invaders.Rupala is up against former Congress MLA Paresh Dhanani, who had defeated him in the 2002 assembly polls.The Congress has fielded four sitting and eight former MLAs. It is contesting the polls in alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party. As part of the agreement, the Congress got 24 seats (including Surat), while the AAP has been given Bhavnagar and Bharuch.

Geniben Thakor, sitting MLA from Vava in Banaskantha district, has been fielded from Banaskantha against BJP’s Rekha Chaudhary, making it the only seat in the state where the main contest is between two women.

The BJP’s campaign, in a state considered its strongest base, was led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

For the Congress, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi were among the star campaigners, along with Mallikarjun Kharge, who recently addressed a rally in Ahmedabad.

A host of senior leaders from the BJP and the Congress also took part in the campaign in the state, where the ruling party blanked out the grand old party in 2014 and 2019.These leaders included Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Nirmala Sitharaman for the BJP and Ashok Gehlot, Shashi Tharoor, Abhishek Sanghvi and Pawan Khera etc for the Congress.

The AAP has fielded sitting MLAs Chaitar Vasava from Bharuch and Umesh Makwana from Bhavnagar, and the Arvind Kejriwal-led party’s campaign saw rallies by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann as well as senior leaders Sanjay Singh and Gopal Yadav.Sunita Kejriwal, the wife of the Delhi CM who is in jail in connection with a excise policy linked case, also held a roadshow in Bharuch for Vasava.On the last day of campaigning on Sunday, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, BJP state unit president CR Paatil and minister Harsh Sanghavi participated in motorcycle rallies.

While the presence of PM Modi towered over all else in the campaign, the Congress tried to corner the BJP by claiming unemployment, inflation were at an all time high.

The Congress also tried to impress upon the voter that the BJP would change the Constitution if it retained power, while the ruling party hit back claiming the opposition party planned to snatch quotas of Dalits, tribals and OBCs and give them to Muslims.

As per poll officials, a total of 4.97 crore persons, comprising 2.56 crore males, 2.41 crore females and 1,534 from the third gender, will vote in 50,788 polling booths.

They said intensive voter awareness drives were carried out under the guidance of Chief Electoral Officer P Bharathi.

On Sunday, just before the campaign period ended, the Election Commission organised a ‘Run for Vote’ event across all the districts in the state, they pointed out.

To address the potential challenges posed by heat waves, polling booths across the state will be equipped with essential amenities such as drinking water, seating arrangements, adequate shade as well as baby care centres, the CEO informed.

Of the 25 seats that will go to polls on May 7, Ahmedabad (East) has the highest number of candidates at 18, while the lowest is in Bardoli, where three contestants are in the fray, as per EC data.Navsari has the highest number of voters, while the lowest is in Bharuch.Out of 50,788 polling stations, 17,275 are in urban areas and 33,513 in rural areas, EC data showed. Those on election duty have exercised their franchise for the Lok Sabha poll and five assembly bypolls through 2,23,052 postal ballots at voting facilitation centres across the state.