Gujarat polls 2017: Campaigning ends for 2nd and final phase, repolling in 6 booths

The counting of votes will take place along with Himachal Pradesh on December 18.

AHMEDABAD: The campaigning for the second and final phase of Gujarat Assembly elections 2017 ended on Tuesday. The BJP is making a bid for a fifth term while the Congress is attempting an electoral revival in the high-stakes elections.

The first phase of polling for 89 constituencies was held on December 9 and the second phase of polling for the remaining 93 constituencies will take place on December 14.

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi has addressed more than 20 rallies across Gujarat, Rahul Gandhi spent days, addressing a number of meetings.

BJP president Amit Shah, the chief poll strategist of the saffron party, also addressed a number of rallies, mainly targeting the Congress and Gandhi.

The BJP had also drafted Union ministers Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman, besides Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan for the campaigning.

The Congress fielded former prime minister Manmohan Singh and prominent leaders such as P Chidambaram, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Sachin Pilot to canvass for votes.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission on Tuesday ordered a repolling in six booths, where the first phase polling was held on December 9. The repolls will be held on December 14.

Chief Electoral Officer of Gujarat B.B. Swain said the poll panel has cancelled the results stored in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in six booths in four constituencies of the first phase of elections.

The presiding officers of these booths had forgotten to wipe out the mock drill poll results necessitating the re-election.

These are Dhunda and Manpar booths in Jam Jodhpur assembly constituency, Bandharda and Gangda in Una constituency, Chorwad in Nizar constituency and Chanod colony, Chanod in Umargaon constituency, both the latter are Scheduled Tribe (ST) constituencies.

"The reasons for cancelling these booth results is that the Presiding Officers (PO) had forgotten to wipe and delete the existing mock poll drill in their EVMs. We have initiated necessary actions against these lax officials," Swain told the IANS.

The repolls will be held along with the second phase elections for the remaining 93 seats of the 182 seat state assembly. The counting will take place along with Himachal Pradesh on December 18.

(With agency inputs)