2014 Lok Sabha Election -Gujarat Goes To Polls On April 30,2014

 The Election Commission of India(ECI)have announced on Wednesday March 05,2014 a 9-phase polling for the 16th Lok Sabha Election scheduled to be held between April 07 -May 12,2014

The Election Commission on Wednesday March 05,2014 announced that Polling will be held for all the 26 parliamentary constituencies in Gujarat on April 30,2014 and the counting of votes will be on May 16,2014






2014 Lok Sabha Election -Key Dates

• Issue of Notification -
• Last Date for Filing Nominations -
• Scrutiny of Nominations-
• Last Date For Withdrawal of Candidature -
• Polling Date -April 30,2014
• Counting of Votes -May 16,2014

2009 Lok Sabha Election Results

• Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP)      -15
• Indian National Congress(INC) -11

The BJP cadres are waiting for the party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi to give them a final adrenaline rush to help the party corner all 26 Lok Sabha seats in his home state on April 30,2014 

The numbers of the past five elections say that despite Modi, the BJP has never been able to increase its seat tally and vote share more than in 1991, in the backdrop of the Ram Rath Yatra and 1999 when Atal Bihari Vajpayee led the party to power at the Centre. On these two occasions, the BJP had reached the 20-seat mark.

A snap tour of several constituencies of Gujarat, and especially the crucial Saurashtra region that is virtually an Uttar Pradesh of the western state with the maximum eight Lok Sabha seats and 57 out of 182 assembly constituencies, gives away an atmosphere of dissent among the rank and file over the selection of candidates.

For the Congress, the hope lies in its sitting MPs of several terms who defied the Modi wave in 2004 and 2009.The Congress sitting candidates generally fend for themselves and don't depend on Sonia Gandhi to turn the tide for them

The consensus as of now across the insiders in the BJP and the Congress is that Modi's party could fetch 18 to 20 seats, while the Congress leaders publicly say there won't be much difference than the previous election results.

Phase 7 Wednesday April 30,2014

In this phase a total of 89 constituencies in 7  States  and 2 UT's* goes to polls

• Andhra Pradesh               17 seats
• Bihar                                01 seat
• Dadra & Nagar Haveli*      01 seat
• Daman & Diu*                   01 seat
• Gujarat                             26 seats
• J & K                               01 seat
• Punjab                              13 seats
• Uttar Pradesh                    14 seats
• West Bengal                      09 seats
• Total                                  89 seats

 
 
A total of 4.05 crore voters (2.12 crore male and 1.93 crore female) are eligible to exercise franchise in the state across 45,380 polling stations. 

As many as 334 candidates are in the fray in the state, including Chief Minister and BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi (from Vadodara) and veteran BJP leader L.K. Advani (Gandhinagar)

The BJP's campaign was centred around the fact that Modi, a son of the soil, was the BJP's candidate for the top job. 

Invoking Gujarati pride, it is seeking to win all the 26 seats. Modi campaigned in the state extensively after the completion of the sixth phase on April 24,2014 

On the last day on Monday April 28,2014, Modi addressed six rallies here. The Congress employed its two big guns, party president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi in the state.
 
Ahmed Patel, Sonia's political secretary, was stationed in the state to manage the campaign for the last few days. 

Both Rahul and Sonia questioned Modi's claims about development in Gujarat. 

Considering the symbolic importance of arresting the Modi wave in Gujarat, Congress made an all-out effort, especially in the constituencies that were its traditional bastions, intensifying an already aggressive campaign

BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and Leader of the Opposition in Gujarat, Shankersinh Vaghela of the Congress, are in warring camps. But there was a time when Vaghela would drive Modi through Gujarat on his motorcycle.

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