Gujarat Assembly polls: PM Modi casts vote in Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi cast his vote at a polling station in Ahmedabad on Monday during the second phase of the Gujarat Assembly polls.
Polling is underway since 8 am for the second and final phase of the state elections in 93 constituencies across 14 districts in the central and north regions and will go on till 5 pm.
Modi arrived at a polling station at Nishan High School in Ranip area of Ahmedabad city at around 9.30 am to exercise his franchise. He stood in a queue for a while to cast his vote.
After emerging from the polling station, the PM showed his inked finger to the crowd gathered to welcome him. He then walked to his elder brother Soma Modi's house located near the polling station.
In the morning, Modi in a tweet appealed to people, particularly the young and women voters, to come in large numbers to exercise their franchise.
He also urged those voting in the bypolls being held in different parts of the country "to turnout in large numbers and vote."
For the second phase of the Gujarat polls, a total of 833 candidates from 61 political parties, including Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), are in the fray in the 93 Assembly segments spread across Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Gandhinagar and other districts.
The first phase of voting for 89 seats in Saurashtra, Kutch and south Gujarat regions was held on December 1, when an average voter turnout of 63.31 per cent was recorded.
The counting of votes for the total 182 Assembly seats will be taken up on December 8.
Ahmedabad, Gujarat | Prime Minister Narendra Modi casts his vote for the second phase of Gujarat Assembly elections at Nishan Public school, Ranip#GujaratElections pic.twitter.com/snnbWEjQ8N
— ANI (@ANI) December 5, 2022
The Hon'ble Prime Minister of the largest democracy, Shri @narendramodi Ji stands in queue to cast his vote for the Gujarat Assembly Election 2022 in Ahmedabad.
— Sambit Patra (@sambitswaraj) December 5, 2022
Such impactful gestures help bolster the faith of people in our democratic setup. pic.twitter.com/NdNLHNjPFT
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
