Gujarat goes to polls today: All you need to know

BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi will contest polls from Vadodara on 30 April, when 26 Lok Sabha constituencies of Gujarat will go to polls in a single phase. A total of 4.05 crore voters (2.12 crore male and 1.93 crore female) are eligible to exercise their franchise in the state across 45,380 polling stations. As many as 413 candidates are in the fray in the state, including veteran BJP leader, LK Advani from Gandhinagar, and actor Paresh Rawal from Ahmedabad East. [caption id=“attachment_1481289” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Narendra Modi. Reuters.[/caption] Challenging Modi in Vadodara is Congress leader Madhusudan Mistry, while senior leader Shankarsinh Vaghela is contesting from Sabarkantha. AAP, striving to emerge as the third alternative, has fielded candidates in 24 constituencies. Gujarat will also have by-election to seven Assembly constituencies on 30 April, with a total of 104 candidates in the fray. The candidates All eyes will be on Vadodara as Modi battles Mistry. While Modi is also contesting from Varanasi, the battle in Vadodara is interesting because of the state being his home turf. He has consistently invoked the idea that he is the ‘son of the soil’ and Vadodara was his ‘ _Karmabhoomi_ ’. Mistry recently told DNA in an interview that he was contesting against Modi to “expose him”. As the polling day drew closer, the battle between the two also became fiercer – recently, Mistry was unceremoniously prevented from vandalising Modi’s posters in the city. [caption id=“attachment_1464487” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Madhusdhan Mistry being detained for vandalising Modi’s posters. PTI[/caption] One of the other constituencies to watch closely is Gandhinagar where Advani will contest against Congress leader Kiritbhai Ishvarbhai Patel. Advani has been the sitting Gandhinagar MP since 1999. The veteran leader’s decision to contest from Gandhinagar was in controversy after he recently expressed the desire to contest from Bhopal and was later convinced by senior BJP leaders to stick to Gandhinagar. Ahmedabad East, will see a contest between Bollywood actor and first time candidate Paresh Rawal who is contesting on a BJP ticket and Himmat Singh Patel of the Congress. So far, the seat was held by BJP’s Harin Patel since 1989. AAP, on the other hand, has fielded a tea vendor named Dinesh Waghela, Economic Times reported. The leader of opposition in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly Shankarsinh Vaghela will battle BJP’s Dipsinh Rathod in Sabarkantha. Vaghela who was the chief minister of the state for a year in has 1996-97 has retained his grip on the seat for four terms. Aside from there 22 other constituencies are going to poll with the entire state finishing polls in a day. According to Lokniti-CSDS-IBN election tracker, many residents of the state don’t buy into Modi’s claims of the development. While 23 percent of those polled believe that development has benefited only a few while another 15 percent believe that it isn’t as much as the government has been claiming. This election season, the Gujarat election model has taken center stage for various reasons–due to Modi’s claims on the campaign trail and doubts raised by opponents questioning the veracity of these claims. Analysis of the survey which appeared on Firstpost shows: “In Modi’s column, there is solid backing from the upper castes, Patels and OBCs - each with over 70 percent backing for Modi. Dalits and Muslims appear in the Congress column - representing the havenots with over 70 percent preference for the Congress. Adivasis tilt to the Congress with 35 percent against 22 percent for Modi.” The responses to the survey show a clear divide in classes and how different stratus perceive Modi’s claims–between those who benefited and those that did not. With inputs from PTI