The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in power in Gujarat since 1995, is aiming for a seventh straight term in the state.

All the exit polls have predicted a big majority for PM Modi’s party in Gujarat (with them winning 117-151 seats), while the Congress’ tally was predicted to fall to 16-51. New entrant Aam Aadmi Party’s campaign was projected by exit polls to be sound and fury signifying almost nothing — their tally was expected to be confined to between two to 13 seats.

Himachal Pradesh is expected to see a closer fight between the two main parties.

The state has not returned any incumbent government to power after 1985, but the ruling BJP, powered by PM Modi’s campaign, hopes to buck that trend. All but two exit polls have predicted an edge for them.

The saffron party has already returned to power in Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Assam, and Uttarakhand, and is now hoping to add Himachal, the home state of BJP national president JP Nadda, to that list.

A lot is at stake for the Congress too, with insiders saying that any hopes for the party’s revival has to start from Himachal. The grand old party is currently only in power in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, both of which will go to polls in 2023.

NEW DELHI: Celebrations are in full swing at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) office here on Wednesday with supporters carrying party flags distributing sweets and dancing to the beat of drums.

The AAP crossed the halfway mark gaining a majority in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections, thus uprooting the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) 15-year-long rule in the city’s civic body.

Senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia thanked the people of Delhi for voting his party to victory in the MCD polls and said it was their mandate that helped it defeat the “world’s biggest and most negative party”.

Addressing the people around 3 pm, AAP’s national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, “I congratulate the people of Delhi for this win and thank them for bringing change.”

As of 2 pm, the AAP has won 130 wards out of 250 so far.

The BJP, which has been ruling the civic body since 2007, managed to win 99 seats with the party leading on 6 seats till 2 pm.

The Congress was lagging far behind, winning just seven seats.

Three Independent candidates, including Shakeela Begum from Seelampur in northeast Delhi, have also won.

In a fiercely fought battle, the BJP began the day by leading in the initial trends for nearly one and a half hour initially, however, the trends started shifting as the AAP gained the lead and maintained thereafter until the final results were declared.

“The BJP has got the answer today that the people of Delhi vote for those who work, and not for the ones who defame. The BJP fielded its MPs, Ministers, CBI and ED, but the people of Delhi still voted for the AAP. The people have given a befitting reply to the BJP for the allegations that it levelled against Kejriwal. We will make Delhi the most beautiful city in the world,” AAP leader Raghav Chadha said earlier.

Polling took place on December 4 with about 50 per cent voter turnout.

This was the first civic election after the fresh delimitation exercise.

There were 272 wards in Delhi and three corporations – NDMC, SDMC, and EDMC in Delhi from 2012-2022 that later reunified into an MCD that had formally come into existence on May 22.

NEW DELHI: The BJP appears headed for a record victory in the Gujarat while the race in Himachal Pradesh could be unexpectedly tight, if the poll of exit polls is any indicator. Exit poll results came out in the evening after the last phase Gujarat Assembly elections ended on Monday.

Pollsters were unanimous in predicting a clean sweep for the BJP in Gujarat, with the Congress finishing a distant second. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) could consider itself lucky if it crosses single digits. If the BJP wins, it would be a record seventh successive term for it in Gujarat. However, the Congress appears to have given the BJP a run for its money in Himachal Pradesh, exit polls suggest. Counting of votes will take place on December 8.

The poll of exit polls gave 132 seats to the BJP in the 182-member Gujarat Assembly with the Congress and its allies trailing at 38. If the projection holds, it would be a huge blow for the Congress, which secured 77 seats in the 2017 Assembly elections. Its lacklustre performance could affect its morale at a time when it is looking to build up some steam ahead of the 2024 general elections. Congress leaders had claimed the party will win despite its low key campaign in the state.

As for the AAP, its high voltage campaign may not have commensurate results on the ground in Gujarat, with BJP being the big beneficiary.In Himachal Pradesh, the BJP could get to retain power, through with a razor thin margin, as the poll of polls gave it 35 seats, which is also the majority mark in the 68-member Assembly. The Congress could end up with 30 seats while it will be a no-show for the AAP.

However, two exit polls showed a dead heat between the BJP and the Congress in the state, where results could go either way. According to the Chanakya exit poll, it will be a cliffhanger as both the BJP and the Congress may secure 33 seats each. The India-Today Axis poll gave the Congress an edge with 30-40 seats.

NEW DELHI: The residents of Northwest Delhi’s Jahangirpuri have cast their votes for peace, communal harmony and cleanliness in this Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections. 

The market area in Jahangirpuri which had come to a standstill in April due to clashes between two communities during a Hanuman Jayanti procession was bustling on Sunday as people went out in large numbers to exercise their franchise.

The clash that erupted on April 16 left eight police personnel and a local resident injured.

Although the situation returned to normalcy months ago, the security in the market area was slightly beefed up with the deployment of police and Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel every 200 metres.

Tajman Bibi, one of the Jahangirpuri voters, said he wants the upcoming MCD regime to focus on peace and communal harmony, which are his primary concerns.

“Jahangirpuri should never again witness the kind of violence it did in April. The authorities should focus on maintaining communal harmony in this area. While casting my vote, that was my only concern,” Tajman told PTI.

Another voter Rafiq echoed similar sentiments, saying that people in Jahangirpuri should not “face divisive politics” anymore.

“No matter which party comes to power in the MCD, we expect peace in Jahangirpuri. People should not face divisive politics here anymore. There should be harmony amongst all communities.”

“We do not want any sort of division on the basis of communities. We do not want people to fight amongst each other,” the 56-year-old added.

On the civic front, the residents highlighted the lack of cleanliness and garbage menace as other major issues.

Mohammad Junu,48, whose house is located in one of the congested gullies, said the drains in the area mostly remain clogged throughout the year.

“We have been facing the issue of clogged drains since several years now. We spoke to the authorities earlier many times but nobody paid heed to the issue. Due to water stagnation, drains get clogged here. This is one issue that leads to major health problems to the residents, including dengue and malaria,” he said.

A few days after the clash, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) launched an anti-encroachment drive in Jahangirpuri during which bulldozers razed several structures in the area.

The exercise continued for one-and-a-half hours even after a Supreme Court directive to stop it.

The civic polls, spanning 250 wards, was conducted on Sunday. The votes will be counted on December 7.

AHMEDABAD: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday cast his vote in Ahmedabad during polling for the second phase of Gujarat Assembly elections and appealed to people to strengthen the state’s “development model” by coming out to vote in large numbers

Shah, who represents Gandhinagar seat in the Lok Sabha, reached the Naranpura sub-zonal office polling booth here along with his family members including wife Sonalben Shah and son Jay Shah.

Talking to reporters after casting his vote, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader appealed to people to carry forward and strengthen Gujarat’s ‘development model’ through their votes.

“I urge all the voters, especially the first time voters, to exercise their franchise without fail to take ahead this two-and-a-half decades of journey of development, because Gujarat’s development is not limited to our state only. Gujarat’s development is a medium to bring development in the country,” Shah said.

The BJP has been in power in Gujarat for more than 25 years.

Shah said Gujarat’s development serves as the foundation for the development of the entire country.

The BJP leader said various achievements of the ‘Gujarat model’, such as high industrial investment, 100 per cent enrolment in schools, zero drop out and poverty alleviation schemes, have been attracting attention of the whole country.

“I urge the voters to come out in large numbers and vote for strengthening this development model,” said Shah.

Voting was underway on Monday for the second phase of polls in 93 out of the total 182 Assembly seats in Gujarat.

Earlier, polls in 89 Assembly seats were held on December 1. The counting of votes in all the seats will be taken up on December 8.

MUMBAI:  Ahead of the Maharashtra assembly winter session scheduled on December 19 in Nagpur, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis have decided to postpone cabinet expansion and begin allocations of state boards and corporations.

Shinde held a meeting with Maharashtra BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule, where they decided that rather than awaiting centre clearance for cabinet expansion, both the alliance partners can start allocations of state boards and corporations.

“The MLAs who supported Shinde in his revolt are desperate to get the ministerial hearth. Some of them have warned that if the cabinet is not expanded and if their names are not included, they may take a different call. The immediate issue before the CM is to pacify the disgruntled MLAs by allocations,” said a senior BJP leader who requested anonymity.  

The first cabinet expansion was carried out five months ago, however, majority of ministries are yet to be allocated. The chief minister and his deputy are burdened with the maximum portfolios. Besides, it also has an adverse cascading effect on the administration and implementation of government policies.

Meanwhile, the matter of disqualification of 16 MLAs including Shinde and prominent ministers are still pending in the Supreme Court. A negative result can jeopardise the government. Therefore, they are giving a lot of thought to delaying the expansions,” said a senior BJP leader who requested anonymity.

A source close to Shinde said that allocating the state boards with cabinet status will kill two birds with one stone. “The MLAs who were earlier demanding cream portfolios are now desperate and even ready to settle with boards. This will reduce competition. So later, it won’t be an issue for us to distribute the portfolios and expand the cabinet. This is a well-planned strategy,” he added.

BJP Maharashtra unit vice-president Prasad Lad has stoked another row over Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj after he made an inaccurate statement about the birthplace of the Maratha king. Lad, who is a close aide of state Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, on Saturday said that Shivaji was born in Konkan while in fact he was born in Shivneri fort in Pune district. Prasad Lad made the error while addressing a gathering at the Konkan Mohatsav in Mumbai on Saturday.

Lad’s remark invited strong reactions from leaders across political parties in the estate. Later, he extended an apology and said, “I have huge respect for Shivaji. It came out while speaking about Shivaji and Konkan. Konkan was the work land of Shivaji and that is a fact we cannot deny,” he added.

SRINAGAR: Polling was underway on Monday in two district development council (DDC) constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir where a re-poll was ordered by election authorities due to disputed qualification of candidates, officials said

The polling for the DDC seats of Hajin-A in Bandipora and Drugmulla in Kupwara started this morning.

The State Election Commissioner has appealed voters to come out and cast their votes without any fear and strengthen the democratic process by participating in large numbers, the officials said.

A mock poll was also conducted at all polling stations before the actual start to ensure free and transparent polling, they added.

The DDC elections took place in Jammu and Kashmir in December 2020.

However, the counting of votes was withheld in these two seats due to the disputed qualification of two candidates.

Later, the state election commission declared the polling to these constituencies as void, cancelling the candidature of Soomia Sadaf and Shazia Aslam, citing wrong information about the place of birth by the PoK-origin candidates.

93 Assembly segments which will go to polls on Monday are spread across Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Gandhinagar and other districts.

In the second phase, voting will be held in the remaining 93 seats, for which 833 candidates are in the fray from 61 political parties, including the BJP, Congress and the new poll entrant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 51 of these seats, Congress 39, while three seats went to independent candidates.

In central Gujarat, the BJP had bagged 37 seats, outnumbering the Congress which got 22. But in north Gujarat, the Congress had won 17 seats while the saffron party got 14.

The high-voltage campaigning by different parties for the second phase of polls ended on Saturday evening.

The first phase of voting for 89 seats in Saurashtra, Kutch and south Gujarat regions was held on December 1, when an was recorded.

The Gujarat Assembly has a total of 182 seats.

The 93 Assembly segments which will go to polls on Monday are spread across Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Gandhinagar and other districts.

Voting ended for the first phase of the Gujarat Assembly elections in 89 seats across 19 districts of Saurashtra-Kutch and southern regions at 5 pm on Thursday. A low voter turnout of 59.24 per cent was recorded till 5 pm.

AHMEDABAD:  Dissidents from both BJP and Congress can hurt the parties on 34 seats in central Gujarat, where BJP won only seven of the 28 seats in 1998 elections, but post-Godhra riots, it strengthened its position, bagging 23 seats in 2002.

Central Gujarat is seen as a BJP stronghold where polling is due in the second phase on December 5. However, this time senior BJP leaders like Madhushrivastav and Dinesh Patel filed their candidature as independents after failing to find a place on the party list.

That has put BJP under pressure. Vadodara city has been the party’s bastion for years, but this time it is facing trouble in neighbouring Savli, Padra, Waghodia, Dabhoi, and Karajan seats where former BJP MLAs are fighting as Independents.

How anxious the BJP is to save this stronghold can be seen from the fact that it has fielded 76-year-old Yogesh Patel from Manjalpur constituency in Vadodra in spite of state party chief CR Patil’s expressed caveat before the media that the party would not nominate those aged above 75 years. In Panchmahal district, the party is facing a tougher puzzle. Former BJP MP Prabhatsinh Chauhan, who recently quit the BJP, is contesting the Kalol seat as a Congress candidate.

Congress has its own fixed vote bank in central Gujarat. However, the party does not have an influential leader. In Narmada’s Dediapada seat, the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) is also facing the problem posed by a rebel who has filed his papers as an AAP candidate from Dediapada seat.  Congress held the Chhota Udaipur seat in the north of Narmada for years, but this time, the BJP has inducted senior Congress leader and 11-time MLA Mohan Singh Rathawan, giving his son Rajendra Singh the ticket.

AHMEDABAD: Polling began at 8 am on Thursday for the first phase of Gujarat Assembly elections in 89 out of the total 182 seats across 19 districts of Saurashtra-Kutch region and southern parts of the state to decide the fate of 788 candidates.

The voting is being held across 14,382 polling stations, of which 3,311 are in the urban and 11,071 in rural areas, the office of the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said.

Live webcasting is being done from 13,065 polling stations to keep a close eye on the process, it said.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has ruled Gujarat for 27 years, is trying to retain power in the state for the seventh term in a row.

If it succeeds, it will equal the record of the Left Front government which won the West Bengal elections for seven consecutive terms till 2011.

This time, the BJP faces competition not just from its traditional rival Congress but also the new poll entrant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which has tried to position itself as the main challenger of the ruling party.

The BJP and the Congress are contesting in all 89 seats. The Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP is contesting in 88 seats.

Its candidate from Surat East constituency had withdrawn his candidature, leaving the party with one less seat to contest in the first phase.

Apart from the BJP, Congress and 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 candidates in various seats up for grabs the first phase.

The BSP has fielded 57 candidates, BTP 14 and CPI-M four candidates. As many as 339 independents are also in the fray in the first phase. In the 2017 elections, the BJP won 48 out of these 89 seats, the Congress won 40, while one seat was bagged by an independent candidate.

Of the total 788 candidates in fray, 70 are women including nine fielded by the BJP, six by the Congress and five by the AAP.

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.

There are 5.74 lakh voters in the age group of 18-19 years, and 4,945 above the age of 99 years who are eligible to cast their votes, the state CEO’s office said.

The election body has set up 89 ‘model polling stations’ and as many eco-friendly polling stations. There are 89 stations run by differently-abled and 611 by women.

A total of 34,324 ballot units, an equal number of control units, and 38,749 Voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines are being used for the election in the first phase, the release said.

It also said that 2,20,288 trained officers and employees have been deployed for the smooth conduct of the election process.

Besides, 27,978 presiding officers and 78,985 polling officers are also on duty, it said.

The AAP has anchored its campaign around a host of “guarantees” such as free electricity up to 300 units a month, unemployment allowance and government jobs.

The Congress has made a similar pitch while promising a cooking gas cylinder for Rs 400, free electricity and English medium schools, among others.

The BJP seems firm on the ground with its development and Hindutva agenda, the promise of 20 lakh jobs, setting up of an ‘anti-radicalisation’ cell, and implementation of the Uniform Civil Code in the state.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi campaigned extensively for the BJP in the run-up to the election.

The first phase of election will decide the fate of AAP’s chief ministerial candidate Isudan Gadhvi, who is contesting from Khambhalia seat in Devbhumi Dwarka district.

AAP state unit president Gopal Italia is contesting from Katargam in Surat. Rivaba Jadeja, the wife of cricketer Ravindra Jadeja, is another prominent contender from Jamnagar (North).

BJP MLAs Harsh Sanghavi and Purnesh Modi (both contesting from different seats in Surat) as well as five-time legislator Parshottam Solanki (Bhavnagar-Rural) are also contesting in the first phase.

Sitting Congress MLAs like Lalit Kagathara, Lalit Vasoya (both from seats in Rajkot) and Mohammad Javed Pirzada are also in the fray in the first phase from seats in Saurashtra region.

Seven-time MLA and veteran tribal leader Chhotu Vasava is contesting from Jhagadia in Bharuch.

With 54 seats, the Saurashtra-Kutch region is crucial for Congress as it seeks to improve its performance. In the region, the Congress won 30 seats in 2017 compared to 16 in the 2012 election.

The BJP, on the other hand, was reduced to 23 seats in 2017 as against 35 won by it in the previous election.

In south Gujarat, the Congress in 2017 improved its tally to 10 compared to six in the previous polls, while the BJPs tally dropped to 25 in the last election from 28 earlier.

South Gujarat also comprises Surat city with 12 seats which have remained the BJP’s bastion since a long time. Voting for the second phase in 93 seats will be held on December 5. The counting of votes will be taken up on December 8.