20mn to vote in final round of Gujarat polls today

Electronic voting machines (EVM) for the second phase of the Gujarat state assembly elections are kept inside a strong room at a counting centre in Ahmedabad yesterday.

Agencies/Ahmedabad

Gujarat will see the second and final round of polling today to decide if Chief Minister Narendra Modi can get another five-year term or the Congress can bounce back to power in the western state.

Close to 20mn voters are eligible to take part in the nine-hour balloting in 95 of the 182 constituencies. Voting took place in the first round on Thursday in 87 constituencies.

Both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress have interpreted the heavy turnout in the first phase to claim they were poised to win the Gujarat battle.

The regions going to the polls today include Kutch, north Gujarat and central Gujarat.

“More than 70% will vote in this phase too,” asserted BJP Rajya Sabha member Natuji Thakor. “North Gujarat is Narendrabhai’s (Modi) area. He is the son of the soil. People will vote overwhelmingly for him and the BJP.”

He added: “We are expecting more votes in central Gujarat than last time.”

Senior Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil was equally confident.

“I think we will see a heavy turnout in this phase as well,” Gohil said. “People will vote in favour of the Congress, given the anti-incumbency.”

The BJP is contesting all 95 seats, the Congress 92 and the Gujarat Parivartan Party (GPP) of former BJP chief minister Keshubhai Patel 84.

Also in the fray are 84 candidates of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and 284 Independents. A total of 49 women candidates are also in the fray.

There are 10.3mn male and 9.5mn female voters.

Himmatnagar in Sabarkantha district has the maximum number of 18 candidates while Fatepura in Dahod district has just three - the least.

The Election Commission said 23,318 electronic voting machines will be used in as many polling stations, with 10,126 of them dubbed “critical” - an official euphemism to mean they could witness disturbances or violence.

Abdasa is the largest assembly constituency area wise with 6,278 sq km territory and Ghatlodia has the most number of voters (285,998).

Among the constituencies that will see polling today are Ellisbridge, where slain BJP leader Haren Pandya’s widow Jagruti is contesting against the BJP, and Naranpura, where Modi’s confidant Amit Shah, a former minister, is a candidate.

A bigger share of the vote this month in the state the 62- year-old has ruled for 11 years would help counter concern in BJP he is too polarising to maintain allies in the national campaign due by 2014. Modi’s terms in office span some of the worst religious rioting in India’s history, and the championing of a business-friendly approach that has helped drive the fastest growing state economy.

“As Modi marches on Delhi, he’s moving into the centre,” said G V L Narasimha Rao, managing director of New Delhi-based Development and Research Services, who advises the BJP on election policy. “The biggest threat to his chances of leading India is that he’s seen as too divisive and too authoritarian.”

Opinion polls signal a Modi romp in Gujarat. The BJP will secure 124 seats in the 182-member assembly, an increase of seven, according to a November 24 survey by Nielsen Holdings NV (NLSN) and ABP News. Congress may win 51 seats, the poll of 16,384 voters in 91 constituencies found. It gave no margin of error.

Results from the two-stage vote, and another in Himachal Pradesh state, will be counted on December 20.

If the BJP wins, Modi - who soars over the party - could start playing a larger national role both in the party and pan-India politics.

A defeat for the BJP could, however, puncture Modi’s larger political ambitions and prove a great morale booster for the Congress ahead of the 2014 general election.