Gujarat elections LIVE: Voting underway; Amit Shah, Modi's mother cast vote

Gujarat Assembly election 2017: The second phase of polling that started at 8 am will end at 5 pm today. Mostly in the north, west and central parts of Gujarat, these 93 constituencies are spread across 14 districts. Of the state’s 182 Assembly seats, 89 had seen voting in the first phase held on December 9. The results to the Gujarat state election, as well as the Himachal Pradesh elections held earlier, will be announced after counting of votes cast in both phases of Gujarat polling on December 18.

As for Thursday’s phase of Gujarat polling, some 2.22 million people are expected to exercise their franchise to elect 93 legislators from among 851 candidates – including 69 women – who are in the fray. According to the Election Commission of India, a total of 28,114 electronic voting machines (EVMs) have been pressed into service at 25,558 polling stations.
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Gujarat elections: 'Jadugar' Modi has tricked people, says Rahul Gandhi

Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi on Monday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is like a "jadugar", or magician, who has been "performing tricks" on the people of Gujarat and the country, as he visited Patidar strongholds in north Gujarat that saw huge crowds greet and listen to him.

The All India Congress Committee (AICC) Vice-President was on the last and fourth leg of his three-day visit to poll-bound Gujarat. He concluded his Gujarat tour by visiting the BJP bastion and the home of Patidar agitations of Mehsana and Visnagar later on Monday.

Earlier, talking to the media he said just like magicians perform tricks which are mere tricks and not real, similarly Prime Minister Modi has been perfoming tricks in Gujarat on the people.

On Monday, he began his tour of north Gujarat by visiting the Veer Meghmaya temple and had 'darshan' there. After that, he interacted with Dalit leaders of Patan. The Gandhi scion continued his attacks on Prime Minister Modi and lambasted the central government on various fronts like demonetisation, the Goods and Services Tax (GST), unemployment and corruption.
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Modi flays Congress, assures traders on GST in Gandhinagar: Key highlights

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday dared the Congress to contest the Gujarat Assembly election on the development plank while addressing a massive rally in what is likely to be his last speech at a big public rally before the Election Commission’s model code of conduct kicks in.

Sounding the poll bugle, the Prime Minister mounted a fierce attack on the Congress during the public meeting, which comes on the heels of the Gujarat government announcing a series of sops.

While PM Modi said the Gujarat election was a fight between "vikasvaad" (development politics) and "vanshvaad" (dynasty politics), BJP President Amit Shah made it clear that the party was seeking votes in the name of the Prime Minister to retain power in Gujarat, and set a target of over three-fourths majority in the 182-member Assembly.

ALSO READ: Rahul forecasts 'jumlon ki baarish' by Narendra Modi in poll-bound Gujarat


Modi and Shah were in Ahmedabad to address the Gujarat Gaurav Mahasammelan rally, which concluded the Gujarat Gaurav Yatra that the party had launched across the state on October 1.
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