It’s curtains on Phase 1 Gujarat campaigning

Manas Dasgupta

New Delhi, December 7 

Electioneering for Gujarat’s 89 Assembly constituencies in 19 districts, that go to the polls in the first phase of the two-phase polling on December 9, ended at 5 pm today. Over 2.06 crore voters will decide the fate of 977 candidates, including 442 Independents, in the fray. 

Prominent among those in the contest are CM Vijay Rupani (Rajkot West), state BJP president Jitu Vaghani (Bhavnagar West), former state Congress president Arjun Modhvadia (Porbandar), former Leader of the Opposition Shaktisinh Gohil (Mandvi) and several ministers in the outgoing Rupani Cabinet.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

Narendra Modi, PM, wrapped up the BJP campaign for the first phase with a rally in Surat. Originally planned for Wednesday, the meeting was deferred owing to inclement weather caused by the Ockhi cyclonic storm that dissipated into the high seas. Amit Shah, BJP chief, held three rallies on the final day of the campaigning. 

The campaign by Rahul Gandhi had ended abruptly on Tuesday. He is expected back  tomorrow to campaign  for the second phase. 

The BJP is yet to release its manifesto. It is highly unlikely that it will do so before the polling. The Congress only a couple of days ago published its list of promises.