Battle for Gujarat: Verdict to be out today

Gandhinagar (Gujarat) [India], December 18 (ANI): All eyes are set on Gujarat as the much-awaited results of the bitterly fought Assembly polls, which saw a political Mahabharat contest between the two leading parties - the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress, will be announced today.

The counting for the two phase Gujarat Assembly elections will begin at 8 a.m. and results are expected to come out by afternoon.

Gujarat has 26 parliamentary constituencies and 182 assembly constituencies.

A total of 977 candidates were in the fray in the first phase of elections, out of which 57 were women candidates and over 2.22 lakh people took part in the election to decide their fate. While in the second phase, 851 candidates fought, out of which 69 women candidates contested.

The voting in first phase of the Gujarat polls took place on 24,689 polling stations, while in the second phase, a total number of 25,558 polling stations were used.

In 2012, the BJP won 63 of the 89 constituencies, while the Congress party got only 22 seats. Others won four seats. Narendra Modi led BJP to a vigorous victory in Gujarat, which also concreted his name for the BJP Prime Ministerial candidate in the 2014 General Elections.

The BJP won 115 seats, while the Congress bagged 61 in 2012.

The Congress' average victory margin stood at 13,577 votes across the 61 seats it won in 2012. Since 1995, the BJP has been in the power in Gujarat.

The incumbent state Chief Minister Vijay Rupani-led BJP is seeking a sixth straight term in office, while the Congress is aspiring to stage a comeback in power after being in the opposition for over two decades.

The counting of the two-phase Gujarat Assembly election 2017 will be held .

The state saw aggressive campaigning from the Congress Party and the BJP, both leaving no stone unturned to ensure victory.

While majority of exit polls have predicted BJP's win, the Congress is hopeful of bagging Patidar votes and overthrowing BJP from 22 years of governance in the state. (ANI)

This story has not been edited. It has been published as provided by ANI