Total 68 pc voting in the first phase of polling in Gujarat

Ahmedabad: A total of 68 percent voting was recorded in the first phase of polling in Gujarat on Saturday.Chief Minister Vijay Rupani also exercised his franchise and tweeted, "I have exercised my right to vote. Have you? Don’t miss it," he said urging citizens to exercise their democratic right. The voting is being held in 19 districts spread across 89 Assembly seats in Kutch, Saurashtra and South Gujarat.The polling began at 0800 hrs and in the first two hours, voter turnout was over 13.3 per cent.A total of 977 candidates are in fray in the first phase. Prominent candidates include Chief Minister, who is contesting from Rajkot (West), and Congress' Shaktisinh Gohil (Mandvi) and Paresh Dhanani (Amreli).

BJP leader and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the turnout is good but due to the use of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) in many booths voting is taking place slowly.In a tweet in the morning, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged voters to turn out in record numbers and vote."Phase 1 of Gujarat polls begin. Urging all those voting today to turn out in record numbers and vote. I particularly call upon youngsters to exercise their franchise," Mr Modi tweeted.

All eyes will be on politically sensitive Rajkot West, where Chief Minister Vijay Rupani is pitted against Congress leader Indranil Rajyaguru. Polls are being held spread over districts like Rajkot, Surat, Junagadh, Amreli, Morbi, Kutch, Jamnagar and Surendranagar.Elections to remaining 93 seats will be held on December 14 while counting of votes will take place on December 18.A high-decibel campaign that saw both BJP and Congress slamming each other ended on Thursday evening - where in at the last moment emotion ran high after Prime Minister Narendra Modi referred to a controversial remarks from senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar.

In more ways than one, elections in Gujarat - which is Prime Minister's home state and where BJP has remained in power since mid-nineties - is being considered crucial for national polity as it would be kind of an acid test to Mr Modi's popularity especially in the context of traders' anguish against GST and noteban.The elections in Gujarat this year also coincides with internal development in Congress party as the stage is set for Rahul Gandhi's elevation as new Congress chief replacing his mother Sonia Gandhi.

During the campaign, while Mr Modi addressed at least 15 election rallies and interacted with BJP women workers, leading the Congress charge Rahul Gandhi visited number of temples including the historic Somnath Temple.The BJP has fielded candidates in all 89 seats, Congress 87 and there are 443 Independent candidates. Among other parties -- AAP has fielded 21, Shankersinh Vaghela-led Jan Vikalp Party has candidates in 48 segments while Mayawati-led BSP has nominated 64 candidates.Samajwadi Party has nominated 4, JD(U) 14, NCP 30 and 25 candidates from BJP-ally Shiv Sena will be also in the fray.The second phase of polling will take place on December 14.

In 2012 - five years back - out of 89 seats for which polls are being held on Saturday, the BJP had virtually swept picking up as many as 63 seats -- by bagging 5 in Kutch, 28 in South Gujarat and 30 in Saurashatra belt.It would not be all cakewalk for BJP as this year's elections have been marred by intense debate on Patidars' reservation and there have been also caste arithmetic involving the likes of Hardik Patel; Alpesh Thakor (OBC) and Jignesh Mevani (Dalit). (UNI)