Ahmedabad: In a big boost to ruling BJP’s ongoing Gujarat Assembly Elections 2022 campaign, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Thursday hold a three-hour-long mega roadshow spanning 16 assembly constituencies for the second phase of crucial assembly polls in the state. 


50-KM long roadshow, 16 assembly segments to b covered 


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According to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Prime Minister’s roadshow is likely to begin at 3:30 PM in the afternoon and is expected to go on till 6:30 PM this evening during which the Prime Minister will make at least 35 stops at the memorials of prominent personalities including Pandit Dindayal Upadhyay, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on the way.


PM Modi’s mega roadshow will cover more than 50 km starting from the Naroda Gam and ending at Gandhinagar South constituency. 
This roadshow by the Prime Minister is expected to pass through 16 assembly constituencies that go into polls in the second phase of the Gujarat election on December 5.Thakkarbapanagar, Bapunagar, Nikol, Amraiwadi, Maninagar, Danilimbda, Jamalpur Khadia, Elisbridge, Vejalpur, Ghatlodia, Naranpur, Sabarmati are some of the constituencies that the Prime Minister will cover in his roadshow.


BJP`s chief ministerial candidate Bhupendra Patel is contesting from the Ghatlodia seat. Interestingly, while the Prime Minister canvases for the second phase of the Gujarat election, the polling is being held in the first phase of the much-awaited Gujarat Assembly Elections 2022 in 89 seats spread across 19 districts in Saurashtra-Kutch and southern parts of the state today. 


The voting began at 8 AM and will continue till 5 PM across 14,382 polling stations. As many as 788 candidates are in the fray in the first phase of the polls, of which, 339 are independent candidates. Out of the total 788 candidates, 70 are women including nine fielded by the BJP, six by the Congress, and five by the AAP. Apart from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), 36 other political outfits, including the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Samajwadi Party (SP), Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) have also fielded their candidates in various seats that will go to polls on Thursday.


While the saffron party and Congress are contesting in all 89 seats, the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP is fighting in 88 seats. AAP's candidate from the Surat East constituency had withdrawn his candidature, leaving the party with one less seat to contest in the first phase. Among other parties, the BSP has fielded 57 candidates, BTP 14, and CPI-M four candidates.


Out of the total 4,91,35,400 registered voters in Gujarat, 2,39,76,670 are eligible to cast their votes in the first phase of the elections. These include 5.74 lakh voters in the age group of 18-19 years and 4,945 above the age of 99 years. It is noteworthy that out of the 89 seats going to polls in the first phase, the BJP won 48 in the 2017 Assembly election, the Congress got 40, while one seat was bagged by an independent candidate.


Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been Gujarat`s longest-serving chief minister from 2001 till 2014. In the 2017 Gujarat polls, the BJP`s tally stopped at 99 seats out of a total of 182 seats. The party has been in power for the last 27 years with Narendra Modi being the longest-serving chief minister of the state. This time, the party under the leadership of PM Modi, Amit Shah and CR Paatil is aiming at getting its highest seat tally exceeding 140.The state has been a BJP stronghold for a long and the party has set its sights on returning to power for the seventh term.


The state of Gujarat which has 182 assemblies goes into polls in two phases on December 1 and 5. The results of the polls will be out on December 8.


(With Agency Inputs)