Polling begins in Gujarat

Top Stories

»	49% Indian startups now from tier 2, 3 cities: Jitendra Singh
»	'India ranks 3rd in global startup ecosystem & number of unicorns'
»	Tripura exported over 9K tonnes of pineapples in 2 years
»	CPI inflation eases to 6.71% in July, IIP falls to 12.3%
»	Rupee depreciates 12 paise to close at 79.64 against US dollar

SME Times News Bureau | 13 Dec, 2012
Voting for the first phase of the assembly elections in Gujarat began Thursday at 8 a.m., officials said.

Polling will end at 5 p.m.

Voters in 87 of the 182 constituencies of the state assembly will exercise their franchise at 44,579 polling stations.

As many as 17,029 of these stations have been declared as critical.

Of an estimated 38 million voters, 19.9 million are male and 18.1 million are female.

There are a total of 846 candidates in the fray, including 46 women.

The Bharatiya Janata Party is fielding candidates in all 87 seats, the Congress is fielding 84 candidates, Gujarat Parivartan Party 83, and the Bahujan Samaj Party 79. There are 383 Independents, while others are 130.

The largest constituency by area is Abdasa (6,278 sq km), while the largest constituency by population is Kamrej (304,621 voters).

Maninagar in Ahmedabad, where incumbent Chief Minister Narendra Modi squares off against suspended officer Sanjiv Bhatt's wife, Shweta also goes to the polls in the first phase.