Gujarat assembly polls 2017: PM Modi, Shah cast their votes

Ahmedabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi casted his vote at booth number 115 in Ranip locality in Sabarmati, in the second phase of state assembly polls which began in Gujarat on Thursday.

PM's mother also casted her vote in a polling booth in Gandhinagar early in the morning. Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah also exercised his power in the state. About 12 per cent voting was recorded in the first two hours of the polls.

Voting is going on in 93 assembly constituencies across 14 districts in northern and central regions.

There are 851 candidates in the fray. Special deployment of police has been made to ensure law and order.

Elections are being held in Banaskantha, Patan, Sabarkantha, Mehsana, Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad, Aravalli, Mahisagar, Panchmahal, Dahod, Kheda, Anand, Vadodara and Chhota Udepur districts from 0800 hours to 1700 hours.

A total of 25,575 polling booths have been set up in 14,523 places.

Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley will cast his vote from Vejalpur region of Ahmedabad.

Former Deputy Prime Minister and senior BJP leader L.K. Advani too will be in Ahmedabad to cast his vote from Khanpur area. The sitting MLA from Abdasa and Congress candidate from Mandvi, Shaktisinh Gohil will be casting his vote in Gandhinagar.

Also Read: Gujarat polling on Thursday for 93 seats; PM, Shah to vote

The Election Commission has deployed hundreds of companies of the Central Armed Police Forces, 12 companies of Rapid Action Force and 19 companies of the State Reserve Police Force for the election.

The first phase of the polls for 89 seats in the 182-seat state assembly were held on December 9 with over 60 per cent polling registered.

Apart from the 112 general observers deployed by the Election Commission of India (ECI) for the Gujarat elections, 70 counting observers have been appointed by the ECI for counting of votes registered in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) which will be carried out on December 18 in 37 selected regions of the state.