Gujarat elections: Congress confident of high voting in phase II

Ahmedabad: Gujarat Congress on Sunday expressed confidence that in the second phase of the polling for the state Assembly elections there will be much higher voting than the first phase.

"After the historical anti-incumbency voting for the first phase, we are confident that the second phase will record much higher voter turnout than the first," Gujarat Congress unit president Arjun Modhwadia told reporters. Expressing similar sentiments, Leader of Opposition Shaktisinh Gohil said, "This voting, as high as 70.75 percent, is not only historical but it will be an eye-opener for the BJP government, which is fighting the elections to retain power whereas our fight is to provide basic rights to the common people of the state." Meanwhile, Gujarat Congress campaign committee chairman Shankarsinh Vaghela claimed that after December 20, they will replace the BJP government in the state. "I am telling this because I saw this confidence in voters who went out all the way to use their franchise in the first phase and they wanted to teach a lesson to this government that voters should never be taken for granted," he said. Modhwadia also alleged that the present government had realised that they would be facing "a shameful defeat" and hence they have started "moving files" in the state secretariat in Gandhinagar. "This government has begun to give last minute clearance to important files and we will put this to the notice of Election Commission and the Chief Secretary," he alleged. On the controversy over Sir Creek, raised by Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Modhwadia said "the area of 10 square kilometres was part of India, is and will remain part of the country and nobody can snatch that away from us." Alleging that Modi has been planning to give away land of Sir Creek to industrialists, he warned that if this would happen then they will stage self-immolation to prevent it. PTI