Gujarat elections 2017: Voting on for first phase, 10 facts you must know.

Gujarat: Voting for the first phase of the much-talked-about Gujarat elections is underway on Saturday. Being the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the elections are a prestige battle for the Bharatiya Janata Party.

It is also a litmus test for Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi who has led the election campaign and will soon be taking over the reigns of the party.

Here are 10 facts you must know about the first phase of voting in Gujarat: 

– Voting is being held in 89 seats of Saurashtra and South Gujarat regions.  

– 977 candidates are in the fray in this phase with Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, who is contesting from Rajkot (West), Congress’ Shaktisinh Gohil (Mandvi) and Paresh Dhanani (Amreli) being the prominent candidates. 

– 2.12 crore voters are expected to exercise their franchise today.

– For the first time, the Election Commission is deploying the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines in all the 50,128 polling stations in the state to “inject greater transparency and credibility” to the voting process. In this phase, VVPAT machines have been deployed at over 24,600 polling booths.

– The sequence of candidates’ names is in alphabetical order, first for the national and state recognised parties, followed by other state registered parties, and then by independents.

– Over 1,74,000 police personnel have been deployed with security apparatus on highest alert to ensure smooth conduct of the voting process today. The Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and State Armed Police (SAP) drawn from other states have also been deployed to supplement the local police force.

– Modi has addressed about 15 rallies, while Rahul Gandhi has spent more than seven days in Saurashtra and south Gujarat, addressing a number of meetings. BJP president Amit Shah, the chief poll strategist of the party, also addressed a number of rallies.

– Amid Congress allegations, the BJP released its poll manifesto on Friday, a day before the first phase of polling in Gujarat. It came out with a slew of promises for various sections of society, which included a resolve to “double” farmers’ income.

– Voting for the second phase comprising 93 seats in north and central Gujarat will take place on December 14 and counting of votes will be done December 18. 

– The EC is using 81,860 Ballot Units, 66,358 Control Units and 71,564 VVPATs, including the surplus units, in the Gujarat polls.