New Delhi: BJP chief Amit Shah on Wednesday night asked people to vote in large numbers in Gujarat's second phase.
He also pitched the state Assembly polls as a battle between "dynastic rule and rule of development".
In a statement on the eve of the second and last phase of the Gujarat Assembly polls on Thursday, Shah claimed that the state suffered a lot of discrimination and injustice under the UPA government but is now developing fast, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the helm in the Centre.
Gujarat has become a model state in the 22 years of the BJP rule, he said. "Vote in large numbers tomorrow and choose the rule of development in its battle against the rule of the dynasty," the BJP chief added, PTI reported.
A total of 851 candidates are in the fray for the second phase, where 2.22 crore people are eligible to vote. The first phase of voting for the 182-member house held on December 9, covered 89 seats.
Elections will be held in Banaskantha, Patan, Sabarkantha, Mehsana, Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad, Aravalli, Mahisagar, Panchmahal, Dahod, Kheda, Anand, Vadodara and Chhota Udepur districts from 8 am to 5 pm. A total of 25,575 polling booths have been set up in 14,523 places.
Apart from the 112 general observers deployed by the Election Commission of India (ECI) for the Gujarat elections, 70 counting observers have been appointed by the ECI for counting of votes registered in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) which will be carried out on December 18 in 37 selected regions of the state, as per IANS.
PM Modi will be casting his vote at Nishan Vidyalaya in Ranip area of Ahmedabad, while Amit Shah will be in the city to cast his vote from his former state Assembly constituency, Naranpura. Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley will cast his vote from Vejalpur region of Ahmedabad.
Former deputy PM and senior BJP leader LK Advani too will be in Ahmedabad to cast his vote from Khanpur area. The sitting MLA from Abdasa and Congress candidate from Mandvi, Shaktisinh Gohil will be casting his vote in Gandhinagar.
State Congress president Bharatsinh Solanki will exercise his voting right in Borsad town of Kheda district. Another Congress candidate Siddharth Patel will be casting his vote from Dabhoi.
The Gujarat contest is being seen as a prestige battle for PM Modi in his home state, where a reinvigorated Congress has sewed up a broad social coalition with prominent Patidar, OBC, and Dalit leaders in its bid to unseat the BJP in power for over two decades.
In the 2012 Gujarat Assembly polls, the BJP had won 115 seats, while the Congress bagged 61
(With Agency inputs)
