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7 days after testing positive for Covid-19, Gujarat CM votes in civic polls
Considered a litmus test for the Rupani government ahead of Assembly elections, the polls have proved to be an intense multi-cornered contest.
The BJP’s showcase city, Ahmedabad, clocked the lowest turnout of over 37 per cent, even as six key municipal corporations held by the ruling party on Sunday saw a little over 40 per cent voting out of the total 1.14 crore voters in the first phase of the local body elections in Gujarat.
The local body polls, considered a litmus test for the Vijay Rupani government ahead of 2021 Assembly elections, unlike in the past, have proved to be an intense multi-cornered contest with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the AIMIM and the NCP also having thrown the hat in the ring.
Not letting a single vote go waste, chief minister Vijay Rupani - whose second RT-PCR report came negative on Sunday after seven days of testing positive for Covid-19 - flew home to Rajkot and cast his vote. He was accompanied by his wife Anjali Rupani at the polling station at Anil Gyan Mandir school on Rajkot’s Raiyya Road.
Union home minister Amit Shah was also in Ahmedabad to cast his vote from the Naranpura ward in the city, along with his wife Sonal Shah, son Jay Shah and daughter-in-law Rishita Shah. Shah is likely to attend the inauguration of the Motera cricket stadium, the world’s largest, in Ahmedabad as it hosts its first test match between India and England on February 24.
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The polling was held on 575 seats to elect a new body for Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot, Bhavnagar and Jamnagar, besides by-polls for two seats in Junagadh Municipal Corporation.
There were as many as 2,276 candidates in the fray, including 575 from the BJP, 566 Congress, 470 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), 91 from the NCP, 21 from the AIMIM and 332 from other parties and 228 Independents.
The opposition Congress party, which faces the heat during this election because of the AIMIM contesting 21 seats in Ahmedabad, submitted eight complaints to the state Election Commission, including three for malfunctioning EVMs and two regarding voters being allegedly prevented from voting by local goons.
The AAP, which presented itself as an alternative to the BJP and the Congress to the Gujarat voters, alleged that BJP activists its workers and candidates at one polling station each in Rajkot and Ahmedabad.
Amit Shah cast his vote at Naranpura Sub Zonal Office in Ahmedabad. He was seen without a mask and later told reporters, “I am confident that today the people of Gujarat will cast their votes in large numbers along with their families and they will re-establish Gujarat as the stronghold of the BJP."
Jamnagar registered the highest turnout of 49.64 per cent, followed by Rajkot 45.74 per cent, Bhavnagar 43.66 per cent, Vadodara 42.82 per cent, Surat 42.11 per cent and Ahmedabad 37.81 per cent.
The votes will be counted on February 23. Polling for 81 municipalities, 31 district panchayats and 231 taluka panchayats will be held on February 28 and the results would be out on March 2.
