2012 Gujarat Assembly Elections

 2012 Gujarat Assembly Elections Dates Announced by the Election Commission of India

The Election Commission on Wednesday Oct 03,2012 announced that the voting for the Assembly elections for the 182 Assembly seats in the State will be held in two phases -
First Phase of the voting will be held on December 13,2012 and
Second Phase will be held on December 17,2012

The counting of the votes in Gujarat would be held along with that of Himachal Pradesh on December 20,2012

Addressing a press conference in the national capital on Wednesday,Oct 03,2012 Chief Election Commissioner)CEC) VS Sampath said that with the announcement of the dates for the elections, model code of conduct has come into place in both Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh with immediate effect.

The notification will be issued for the first phase of Gujarat elections on November 17 while that for the second phase will come on November 23. For the first phase, the last day for the filing of nomination is November 24 while the filing needs to be completed by November 30 for phase two.

A candidate can withdraw the nomination by November 28 (phase 1) and December 3 (phase 2). As many as 3.78 crore voters are eligible to vote in the state for the 182 Assembly seats,

The term of the 182-member Gujarat Assembly ends on January 17, 2013, said the CEC

Important dates and facts about Gujarat poll:

 

• Total assembly constituencies: 182
• Reserved for SC: 13
• Reserved for ST: 27
• Total no. of electors: 3,78,15,306
• Total no. of polling stations: 44,496
• Issue of notification (1st phase): November 11, 2012
• Issue of notification (2nd phase): November 23, 2012
• Last date for making nominations (1st phase): November 24, 2012
• Last date for making nominations (2nd phase): November 30, 2012
• Scrutiny of nominations (1st phase): November 26, 2012
• Scrutiny of nominations (2nd phase): December 1, 2012
• Last date for withdrawal of candidature (1st phase): November 28, 2012
• Last date for withdrawal of candidature (2nd phase): December 3, 2012
• Date of poll (1st phase): December 13, 2012
• Date of poll (2nd phase): December 17, 2012
• Counting of votes (both phases): December 20, 2012
• Date before which election process shall be completed (both phases): December 24, 2012

  

Seats Won and the % of the Votes Polled Trends

Congress President Sonia Gandhi arrived in Rajkot, Gujarat on Wednesday Oct 3,2012 to address a rally  and kick off party poll campaign in the state.

BJP observers to spot candidates

Gujarat BJP will send Observers to each district of the state in coming days to select candidates for upcoming Assembly polls.

"A panel of three members will travel between October 18 to 28 to each district of the state and eight municipal corporations. Prospective candidates can represent their aspiration to contest before the Observers," BJP spokesperson Jagdish Bhavsar said

 

Former Congress spokeswoman joins BJP

In a high-profile crossover ahead of the Gujarat Assembly polls, former state Congress spokeswoman Asifa Khan on Saturday Oct 20,2012 joined BJP.

Asifa Khan, who hails from Bharuch district where Muslim population is high, said the community has to move on by "burying the 2002 communal riots".

"I am as pained as any victim of 2002 riots but the community has to move on. Riot victims are getting justice from the judiciary," she said in a reply to a query on who was responsible for the 2002 riots.  

Pre-Poll Survey

 

According to a pre-poll survey conducted by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) for CNN-IBN, Modi-led BJP is once again set to decimate the Congress and romp home with a thumping majority. The survey interviewed 3658 voters in Gujarat and found that almost 50%of them were in favour of the BJP, while the Congress was way behind with just 36 %  

The Gujarat Parivartan Party of Keshubhai Patel, a former BJP leader and Gujarat chief minister, is set to get a paltry three % of votes

In a two-cornered contest(BJP and INC)a difference of 14 per cent in vote shares means that the race has been decided even before it started. And in Gujarat it is Modi all the way despite the conviction and sentencing of one of his former ministers in a 2002 riots case and the arrest of another in a fake encounter case.

The message from the survey is that Modi's popularity is at an all-time high. In 2002 when Modi helped BJP back to power in the backdrop of state-wide riots, only 37 per cent of the voters wanted him as the chief minister. But since then - barring 2004, when his popularity fell to 31 per cent - he has consolidated his position; in 2012, there is no leader who comes anywhere close to him.

 

 BJP is well ahead of the Congress in all the regions of the state -

In Saurashtra and Kutch (Kutch, Surendranagar, Rajkot, Jamnagar, Porbandar, Amreli, Junagadh and Bhavnagar districts) which account for 54 seats, the party is ahead of the Congress while Keshubhai's party is influential in only some seats

North Gujarat (53 seats in the districts of Banaskantha, Patan, Mehsana, Sabarkantha, Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad) 

South Gujarat (35 seats in the districts of Narmada, Bharuch, Surat, Dangs, Navsari and Valsad) are firmly in BJP's grasp 

Congress is able to challenge the party only in Central Gujarat that has 40 seats in Kheda, Ananad, Panchmahals, Dahod and Vadodara districts. But in Central Gujarat, too, the BJP is ahead of the Congress. 

Samajwadi Party to contest 160 seats 

Samajwadi Party(SP) supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and Jaya Bachchan will be the party's star campaigners in Gujarat where it will contest nearly 160 seats in the upcoming assembly elections.

The SP on Nov 01,2012 Thursday released its first list of 53 candidates.Releasing the list, SP national general secretary and state party in-charge Ramjilal Suman said, "The party will field eight candidates from Vadodara, where its regional headquarters is based. "The party will also contest from six seats in Junagadh and five in Surat districts in addition to fielding four candidates from Ahmedabad, Kheda and Sabarkantha."

 

EC transfers 4 collectors, 4 IPS officers

To ensure free and fair elections in Gujarat, the Election Commission has directed the state government to transfer four Collectors and as many IPS officers with immediate effect.

The four Collectors replaced are those of -

1)Banaskantha - M Thennarasan replaces J B Vora as Collector-cum-DM of Banaskantha district

2)Sabarkantha - Samina Hussain replaces L C Patel as Collector in Sabarkantha district

3)Dahod- Rakesh Shamkar replaces Luni as Collector of Dahod district

4)Tapi - Shalini Agarwal takes over from R J Patel as the new collector in Tapi district

The 2IPS replaced are -

1)Jamnagar - Himanshu Shukla will take over as the new SP of Jamnagar from H G Patel

2)Patan - Sara Rizvi will take over as the new SP in Patan, replacing M S Bharoda

3)Dy Commissioner of Police in Surat City - M M Anarwala will be the new DCP Surat City replacing N D Solanki

4)Joint Commissioner of Special branch in Ahmedabad -A K Sharma has been transferred out and Vikas Sahai has been posted in his place

Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP to contest all 182 seats

The Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) will contest the upcoming Gujarat assembly polls from all the 182 constituencies in the state, party president Ram Vilas Paswan said in Ahmedabad on Sunday Nov 18,2012

"We will contest all the seats independently. We are not entering into any alliance with any party," he told

NOTE

Formed in 2000 after breaking from Janata Dal (United), LJP, which had fielded candidates from 12 Assembly constituencies in the 2007 Gujarat Assembly polls, could not win even a single seat.

 

EC Issues Notice to Gujarat PCC President - Nov 22,2012

The Election Commission (EC) on Thursday Nov 22,2012 issued a notice to Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee president Arjun Modhvadia, seeking his comments by 5 p.m on Saturday on the reported speech he made at Vadodara on Nov 2,2012 at a public meeting attacking the personal and private life of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. 

The Commission comprising chief Election Commissioner V.S. Sampath and Election Commissioners H.S. Brahma and S.N.A. Zaidi decided to issue the notice after going through the CD of his speech and reports of the State chief Electoral Officer and district Election Officer. 

They found that Arjun Modhwadia had violated the provisions of the model code.
The relevant section reads: “Criticism of other political parties shall be confined to their policies and programme, past record and work. Parties and candidates shall refrain from criticism of all aspects of private life, not connected with the public activities of the leaders or workers of other parties. Criticism of other parties or their workers based on unverified allegations or distortion shall be avoided.” 

BJP MP and State Unit’s General Secretary Balkrishna Shukla had filed the complaint against Arjun Modhvadia

   

BJP 1st List of 84 Candidates for Phase I of voting on Dec 13,2012

The list includes 40 sitting MLAs and eight former MLAs who lost in 2007(given the same seat which they had contested in 2007 polls to 41 candidates)There are 10 women candidates in the list while six candidates are from the Scheduled Caste category and 14 from Scheduled Tribes.

BJP will announce the names of the other 3 candidates for the first phase in the next two-three days, party CEC Secretary Ananth Kumar said.

 

Keshubhai Patel's GPP releases 1st list of candidates -Nov 23,2012

 

Former chief minister Keshubhai Patel, who had left BJP to form his own political outfit Gujarat Parivartan Party (GPP), on Friday announced the first list of 63 candidates for the first phase of Assembly elections.

Saturday is the last date to file nominations for 87 constituencies in the phase I of the elections, and GPP will finalise the names of the remaining candidates by Saturday morning, party sources said.

Keshubhai himself on Friday filed his nomination papers from Visavadar constituency in Rajkot district

 

NCP to contest 9 seats

In the 2007 elections, NCP fought on 10 seats in alliance with Congress and won three of them.

The NCP wanted 18 but the Congress decided to give just 9 seats this time.

1)Kandhal Jadeja, a Porbandar gangster and son of Santokben has more than a dozen criminal cases pending against him. He will be contesting from Kutiyana seat against Karsan Odedera of the BJP

2)NCP Gujarat chief Jayant Patel, a sitting MLA from Sarsa seat will contest the polls from Umreth assembly constituency. 

3)Sitting MLA from Gondal, Chandu Vaghasiya, will contest from the same seat

4)Pankaj Chauhan will contest from Devgadh Baria 

5)Chandubhai Thakkar will contest from Vaav constituency 

6)Raghubhai Bharwad will contest from Shehra assembly constituency 

7)Rajdeep Jamir Khan will contest from Limbayat in Surat.  

8)Navinbhai Patel will contest from Visnagar seat in Mehsana district and

9)Nileshbhai Patel will contest from the Akota assembly constituency in Vadodara. 

Phase 1 Election - Dec 13,2012

• Around 1.81 crore voters are expected to exercise their franchise in the first phase of Assembly elections.

• Male and female voters comprise 95.81 lakh and 86.04 lakh of the electorate respectively.

• Votes will be cast at 21,261 polling stations in the first phase.  

• Surat, with 32.26 lakh voters, has the most number of polling stations - 3,770 while the tribal district of Dangs with 1.44 lakh electors has the least number of polling stations - 320. 

• In coastal Saurashtra belt, Junagadh has 2,182 polling stations, Bhavnagar 2,082, Jamnagar 1,617, Surendranagar 1,283, Amreli 1,270 and Porbandar 423

• In South Gujarat, a major expanse of which comprises the tribal community, Valsad has 1,255 polling stations, Bharuch 1,224, Navsari 1,087, Narmada 560 and Tapi 559.  

• In Ahmedabad district that will go to polls in the first phase - Viramgam, Sanand, Dholka and Dhandhuka - have a total of 1,040 polling stations where 8.66 lakhs voters are likely to cast their votes
• The largest constituency by area was Abdasa (6,278 sq km) and the largest constituency by population Kamrej (304,621 voters)

1,218 Candidates in fray for 87 seats in Phase I

The commission said in a statement on Tuesday Nov 27,2012 that 1,218 validly nominated candidates remained as on Monday, the date of scrutiny. Officials had said on Saturday, the last date for filing of nominations for phase 1, that 1,534 candidates had filed nominations. 

The Election Commission has rejected nominations of as many as 316 candidates for the first phase election to be held on December 13. 

Wednesday Nov 28,2012 is the last day for withdrawal of nominations .

                                                      

Narendra  Modi Files Nomination Papers for Maninagar Constituency - Friday Nov 30,2012

Narendra Modi filed his nomination papers before Maninagar constituency returning officer PK Jadeja on the last day of filing of nominations at the district collector's office in Ahmedabad.

 

Shwetha Bhatt contest against Narendra Modi

Shwetha Bhatt, wife of suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, who is famous for taking on Narendra Modi, will contest elections against the Gujarat Chief Minister from his constituency Maninagar in Ahmedabad as Congress candidate.

INC has fielded Shweta Bhatt, wife of suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt against Narendra Modi.

 

Two BJP supporters wear masks of Gujarat state Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, and show victory signs as they participate in a BJP workers meeting in Ahmedabad on Nov 30,2012

 

A BJP supporter holds a placard saying BJP's Target 150, meaning that BJP is aiming at 150 seats out of 183 in the forthcoming Gujarat elections as they participate in a BJP workers meeting in Ahmedabad 

 

 

A total of 3.80 crore voters, constituting 62 per cent of the total population of the state, are going to decide the fate of 1,666 candidates in the two phase elections of the state assembly.

Area wise Abdasa in Kutch is the largest Assembly constituency with 6,278 square kilometres and electorate wise largest Assembly constituency is Kamrej in Surat with 3,04,621 voters and smallest is Karanj with 1,44,161 voters.

Limbayat is the seat where maximum 20 candidates are in fray and at Fatepura in Dahod only 3 candidates are contesting.

In 16 Assembly constituencies in the state where more than one woman candidate is contesting and on Limbayat seat in Surat, four women candidates are in the fray, out of total 95 women contestants in the state

The Election Commission has declared 17,029 polling booths as critical and vulnerable in the state, where authorities have decided to carry live web casting of polling.

 

Sonia Gandhi waves at supporters gathered at a Congress rally in Mandvi in south Gujarat - Friday Dec 7,2012

 

PM says Congress doesn't divide and rule - Sunday Dec 9,2012

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday while addressing his first election rally before the upcoming elections, called for an end to the divide and rule politics in the state.

Manmohan Singh said: "The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has proved to be incompetent. The fruits of development have not trickled down."

The PM said that on the human development index, Gujarat was ranked 18th of the 20 main states in India.
"It is sad that 41 % of women in Gujarat are malnourished and 55 % in 15-50 years of age group are anaemic. A big chunk of children don't complete primary and upper primary education in rural Gujarat,"

"Development in Gujarat is only for a few people. A big portion of the population here has remained untouched by this economic development. Because of the policies of the state government, there is an imbalance in the society," he said. 

67% Voting Recorded for Phase I 2012 Gujarat Assembly Polls 

 

67 % voter turnout was registered in Phase I of the Gujarat Assembly Polls on Thursday Dec 13,2012 and he fate of state's top political leaders including the the fledgling Gujarat Parivartan Party(GPP) president Keshubhai Patel - a former chief Minister and Modi's bete noire, BJP's RC Faldu and Congress's Arjun Modhwadia were sealed in Thursday's voting in 87 of the 182 Assembly constituencies. 

An estimated 68% of the 18 million eligible to vote in the first phase exercised their franchise by end of balloting at 5 pm in 87 of the 182 assembly constituencies, the Election Commission said.Election Commission officials said polling took place peacefully all over the state.

Of the 2,582 EVMs deployed for voting, only six had to be replaced, he said, adding there were 64 complaints, mainly pertaining to missing of names from the voters' list

The voter turnout is the highest in the elections held so far in Gujarat.The details are -

In 1967 -63.70%

In 2002 -61.55% and

In 2007 -59.77%

The polling covered  -

48 Seats in 7 Districts of Saurashtra Region

35 Seats in 7 Districts of South Gujarat and

4 Seats in Ahmedabad District

The Saurashtra region, which is home to the powerful Patel community, could pose a tough challenge to Modi with Keshubhai Patel, who quit the BJP to form GPP, leading the charge.

Keshubhai Patel voted in Rajkot. Gujarat Congress chief Arjun Modhwadia exercised his franchise in Porbandar.After casting his ballot, BJP state leader RC Faldu thundered: "We will win with a big majority."

Lone voter in Gir forest casts ballot

Bharatdas Darshandas(55) once again became the privileged voter in the Gujarat assembly polls by casting his vote at a booth set up solely for him deep in the Gir forest.

Darshandas has been living in Banej village in the Una assembly constituency in Junagadh district for the past one decade and has voted in the 2007 assembly polls and 2009 general elections

Keshubhai Patel gets EC notice for violating election code

The Election Commission on Thursday Dec 13,2012 slapped a notice on former chief minister and Gujarat Parivartan Party (GPP) president Keshubhai Patel for violating the election code of conduct by going to a polling booth with a pilot car.

Keshubhai, who arrived in Rajkot on Thursday by a helicopter from Visavadar, went straight to polling booth Saraswati Shishu Mandir where he cast his vote. However, the EC took serious note that he had taken along a pilot car with him. 

"Using pilot car to reach to the polling booth is simply a violation of election code of conduct and therefore the EC has served notice to Keshubhai''

 

 Re-Polling Ordered in 3 Booths

The Election Commission of India has ordered Re-polling on Sunday Dec 16,2012 3 polling booths(booth No 169 Kotda in Jamjodhpur assembly constituency;polling station No 69 Kamlej-III in Bhavnagar Rural Assembly seat and booth No 27 Katargam in Surat North Assembly constituency) in as many Assembly seats tomorrow after the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) at these stations developed technical snags.

 

 

2012 Gujarat Assembly Polls Phase II - Monday Dec 17,2012

 

   

The polling will take place in central and north Gujarat, where as many as 820 candidates,where BJP has fielded candidates on all 95 seats going to poll in this phase, whereas Congress is contesting on 92 and Gujarat Parivartan Party (GPP) and Bahujan Samaaj Party (BSP) on 84 seats each, besides 284 independents in fray.. 

There are 49 women contestants.

Monday’s voting in 95 constituencies would decide the fate of Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who is facing Shweta Bhatt, wife of suspended IPS official Sanjiv Bhatt, as well as that of several BJP and Congress bigwigs and Ministers.

There are as many as 1.98 crore eligible voters.Out of total 1,98,99,501 voters, there are 1,03,58,265 males, 95,41,157 females and 79 other voters who are likely to exercise their franchise.

The constituencies where polling started include 17 in Ahmedabad city, 40 constituencies in five districts -- Vadodara, Dahod, Panchmahal, Kheda and Anand -- of Central Gujarat, on 32 seats in five districts -- Patan, Mehsana, Sabarkantha, Gandhinagar and Banaskantha -- of North Gujarat, and on six seats in Kutch District

 Phase II Assembly Polls Vote - Monday Dec 17,2012

 

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Monday exercised his franchise at a school in Ahmedabad during the second phase of the state assembly elections, which saw about 6.7 per cent polling across 95 constituencies in the first hour

Voting is underway on 23,318 polling stations amidst elaborate and robust security arrangements.

  2012 Gujarat Assembly Polls Results

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by Narendra Modi on Thursday Dec 20,2012 scripted history, winning the Gujarat assembly elections for the 5th time in a row.

Party     No of Seats Won   No of Votes Secured   Vote %
BJP               115                        26009988                  47
INC                61                        21278648                  38
GPP                  2                            956053                    4
Others               4                          5236916                    9
Total             182



 The Results were also a referendum on Narendra Modi, who not only led BJP to a massive victory but also scored a hat-trick of electoral wins(2002;2007 and 2012) even though it fell two seats short of the 2007 tally.
The Narendra Modi charisma was visible throughout the state as the BJP won handsomely in all the regions and also won a majority of the Muslim-dominated constituencies(won eight of the 12 Muslim dominated seats) silencing his critics who have targeted and alleged that his policies are not pro-minority community.

Narendra Modi has won from Maninagar constituency by defeating IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt's wife Shweta Bhatt of the INC by a margin of 86,373 votes.Narendra Modi is set for a third term as the Chief Minister of Gujarat with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerging as the clear winner in the assembly elections. Defeating anti-incumbency for the second time in a row.
In his victory speech delivered in Hindi at a rally in Ahmedabad for the benefit of a larger national audience, Modi dedicated his win to not only the six crore Gujaratis but also added that it was for all those who wanted good governance, development and a corruption-free administration. "Political pundits can discuss Modi all they want, but today's hero is the six-crore strong electorate of Gujarat," said Narendra Modi.

Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee President Arjun Modhwadia lost the Porbandar seat to BJP candidate Babu Bokhiria by a margin of more than 17,000 votes.

NarendraModi to be sworn in as Chief Minister on Dec 26,2012

Narendra Modi, who posted a resounding victory in the assembly elections, will be sworn in as Gujarat Chief Minister for the fourth time on December 26.

Narendra Modi became Chief Minister for the first time on October 1, 2001 and subsequently in 2002 and 2007.

Narendra Modi drove to Raj Bhavan in Gandhinagar on Dec 21,2012 Friday morning and submitted his resignation and that of his council of ministers to Governor Kamla Beniwal following constitution of the new House.

“As per the constitutional obligation, after the announcement of the results of the state assembly elections the Council of Ministers and Chief Minister as its head have tendered their resignations to the state Governor,” Gujarat BJP spokesman Vijay Rupani said.

The out-going assembly was dissolved on Thursday by the Governor after the results of new assembly were declared.

BJP has won 115 seats in the 182-member House, 23 more than what is required for a simple majority.
On December 25 a meeting of the newly-elected MLAs will be held to formally elect Narendra Modi as the leader of BJP legislature party and Narendra Modi would be administered the oath of office and secrecy on December 26,2012

Narendra Modi sworn in as Gujarat Chief Minister - Dec 26,2012
Narendra Modi, who led the BJP to an emphatic victory in the assembly elections, was on Dec 26,2012 Wednesday sworn in as Gujarat Chief Minister for the 4th time
He was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Kamla Beniwal at an impressive ceremony at Sardar Patel Stadium.Modi was sworn in along with seven ministers of Cabinet rank and nine ministers of State.
Senior Political Leaders who attended the function are -
L.K. Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Chief Ministers of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh counterparts - Jayalalithaa and Raman Singh,Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Indian National Lok Dal leader Om Prakash Chautala, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, MNS chief Raj Thackeray, RPI leader Ramdas Athawale.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who has been keeping distance from Narendra Modi, as also his deputy Sushil Kumar Modi, were conspicuous by their absence. However, Bihar BJP president C.P. Thakur attended the ceremony.