- Religious and linguistic minorities, most of them migrants, favour Congress to maintain their identity and language
- Of the total 26,409 polling stations, 93 are model polling booths, 93 are eco-friendly booths, another 93 are managed by Divyang and 14 are managed by youth: Chief Electoral Officer P Bharathi
NE NEWS SERVICE
AHMEDABAD, DEC 4
In the 2017 poll, the ruling BJP’s main plank was development but in 2022 poll the saffron party again resorted to wooing voters in the name of religion, 2002 Godhra riots while Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP copied the BJP to make inroads in BJP citadel. The Main Opposition Congress tried its best to maintain the secular status and religious and linguistic minorities, most of them migrants, favour Congress to maintain their identity and language in their Karma Bhumi. Though AIMIM and AAP have also fielded Muslim candidates, the voters still prefer to go with Congress, say political observers.
કોંગ્રેસે વચન નિભાવ્યા છે
વચન નિભાવશે #Congress_Vachan_Nibhayegi#કોંગ્રેસ_આવે_છે_125_લાવે_છે #CongressAaveChe pic.twitter.com/SM2jrxKYyL— Jagdish Thakor (@jagdishthakormp) December 4, 2022
Polling in the second and final phase will be conducted for 93 Assembly constituencies across 14 districts of north and central Gujarat on Monday. As many as 833 candidates from 61 parties are in the fray in the second phase of the Gujarat elections whose fate will be decided by over 2.51 crore electorates. The Election Commission has established 26,409 polling booths and nearly 36,000 Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will be used for the purpose. Around 29,000 presiding officers and over 84,000 polling officers have been deployed in 14 districts to facilitate the polls.
આ છે તમારા એક વોટની તાકાત
દાહોદને મળી વિકાસની સૌગાત#કમળ_ખીલશે_ગુજરાત_જીતશે#ભાજપ_આવે_છે pic.twitter.com/zhoztAV8kb
— BJP Gujarat (@BJP4Gujarat) December 4, 2022
According to Gujarat’s Chief Electoral Officer P Bharathi, of the total 26,409 polling stations, 93 are model polling booths, 93 are eco-friendly booths, another 93 are managed by Divyang and 14 are managed by youth. Webcasting will be done in 13,319 polling booths in the second phase.
ઔદ્યોગિક ઉત્પાદનમાં…
રોજગાર આપવામાં…
શિક્ષણ ક્ષેત્રે…
આરોગ્ય સુવિધામાં…
સુશાસનમાં…અગ્રેસર ગુજરાત
જણાવો તમારો અભિપ્રાય
78 78 182 182 નંબર ડાયલ કરી
— BJP Gujarat (@BJP4Gujarat) November 5, 2022
“Total of 2,51,58,730 voters will vote, of which, 1,29,26,501 are men, 1,22,31,335 are women and 894 are from the third gender,” Bharathi said.
The 93 poll-bound seats in the second phase are spread across Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Mehsana, Patan, Banaskantha, Sabarkantha, Aravali, Mahisagar, Panchmahal, Dahod, Vadodara, Anand, Kheda and Chhota Udaipur districts.
Among the key constituencies in the final phase are Ghatlodia, which will determine the poll fate of Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel; Viramgam where Patidar leader Hardik Patel will contest as a BJP candidate, and Gandhinagar South where the saffron party has fielded Alpesh Thakor.
ભ્રષ્ટાચારનો ખાત્મો બોલાવી આમ જનતાને રાહત અને સુવિધાઓ પૂરી પાડતી સરકાર એટલે આમ આદમી પાર્ટીની સરકાર.!#Gujarat pic.twitter.com/qLtaKqrvjP
— AAP Gujarat (@AAPGujarat) December 4, 2022
The Leader of the Opposition, Congress’ Sukhram Rathava will contest from Chhota Udeipur, while Lakhabhai Bharwad, Jignesh Mevani and Amee Yajnik are some other prominent Congress names from Viramgam, Vadgam and Ghatlodia seats.
कांग्रेस का नेता जो देश में पैदल पैदल पैदल फिर रहा है उसको भी बुला लेते
और वह दिल्ली का छोटा रिचार्ज जो है#AsaduddinOwaisi #aimimgujarat #sabirkabliwala #WarisPathan #ImtiazJaleel pic.twitter.com/G21vyZ8UqB— shamshad husain warsi (@drshamshadwarsi) December 4, 2022
From the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Bharat Vakhala from Devgadhbaria, Bheema Chaudhary from Deodar, Dolat Patel from Gandhinagar South, Kunwarji Thakor from Viramgam and Vijay Patel from Ghatlodia will test their electoral fortunes in the second and final phase on Monday.
The high-octane campaigning for the second phase of the Gujarat Assembly elections came to an end on Saturday evening, which saw big shots across parties trying to woo voters.
Polling party moving to Rathada Bet with police escort@ECISVEEP @SpokespersonECI#GujaratElections2022 #Polling #GujaratAssemblyPolls #AVSAR #NoVoterToBeleftBehind pic.twitter.com/dSn8moUyn3
— Chief Electoral Officer, Gujarat (@CEOGujarat) December 4, 2022
Prime Minister Narendra Modi held his last election rally in his native state, at Ahmedabad, on Friday, which was followed by roadshows, over consecutive days on December 1 and 2.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, too, concluded his campaigning for the final phase on Friday, with three public rallies in Mehsana, two public meetings in Ahmedabad and a roadshow in Vadodara.
આવતીકાલે Please "પહેલા મતદાન પછી કન્યાદાન"
તારીખ – ૫મી ડિસેમ્બર
સમય – સવારે ૮ થી ૫ સુધી@ECISVEEP #GujaratElections2022 #EveryVoteCounts #Democracy #Awareness pic.twitter.com/pSzGNwQZ7R— Chief Electoral Officer, Gujarat (@CEOGujarat) December 4, 2022
Also, on the last day of the campaign for the second phase, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath addressed poll rallies in Dholka, Mahudha and Khambhat to garner support for BJP candidates, while Union Minister Parshottam Rupala campaigned at Banaskantha, Chhota Udaipur and Anand. His Union Cabinet colleague Smriti Irani also held two roadshows in the state.
આ છે કર્મયોગ ! દીકરીની સગાઇ આટોપી મહિલા પ્રોફેસર તુરંત ચૂંટણી ફરજ ઉપર હાજર થયા.
વડોદરા શહેરમાં રહેતા નિમિષાબેન પાઠક એમ. એસ. યુનિવર્સિટીની ફેકલ્ટી ઓફ ટેક્નોલોજીમાં મદદનિશ પ્રાદ્યાપિકા તરીકે ફરજ બજાવે છે.#GujaratElections2022 #AssemblyElection #EveryVoteCounts pic.twitter.com/LGnlFGn8uC
— Chief Electoral Officer, Gujarat (@CEOGujarat) December 4, 2022
From the Congress, Shaktisinh Gohil held rallies at Deodar, Tharad and Modasa on the last day, while cricketer-turned-politician and ex-Congress MP Mohd. Azharuddin held three road shows at Vejalpur, Jamalpur Khadia and Dariyapur in Ahmedabad.
Among AAP leaders who campaigned on the last day were Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, who held four roadshows in Garbada, Dahod, Zalod and Fatehpura.
The party’s CM face for Gujarat, Isudan Gadhvi, also held roadshows at Sidhpur, Kankrej, Dhanera and Vav on the last day.
Among prominent names who will cast their votes in final phase in Gujarat are PM Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel, Isudan Gadhvi, Gujarat Congress president Jagdish Thakor and cricketers Irfan Pathan, Hardik Pandya and Krunal Pandya.
The Royal family of Vadodara, Congress leader and MP Shaktisinh Gohil and former chief minister Shankersinh Vaghela will also cast their votes on Monday.
During the first phase of polling on December 1, Gujarat saw an overall turnout of 63.14 per cent. The voting began at 8 am in 89 constituencies spread across 19 districts of Kutch, Saurashtra and South Gujarat regions.
ચાલો પરીવર્તનના પર્વમાં ઉત્સાહભેર ભાગ લઈએ અને 100% મતદાન કરી કોંગ્રેસની સરકાર બનાવીએ#કોંગ્રેસ_આવે_છે#કોંગ્રેસ_આવે_છે_125_લાવે_છે #jagdishthakormp #VoteForCongress #GujaratElections2022 pic.twitter.com/RXf0QWuZxp
— Jagdish Thakor (@jagdishthakormp) December 4, 2022
Cong is the only saviour of religious, linguistic minorities in Gujarat
According to the feedback received from religious, linguistic minorities, who may tilt the balance in favour of Congress, they prefer to the comeback of Congress in the larger interest of their communities.
A Congress loyalist and octogenarian Tamil said that it was during the Congress rule, linguistic minority schools were established and run effectively for their betterment for over a century. To drive home his point, he said that the Mother Tongue of Linguistic minorities – Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Odisha, Sindhi, Marathi and Urdu were taught in civic bodies like Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and Surat civic body-run schools in their respective areas irrespective of students’ strength during the Congress rule. All of them were shut down by the BJP.
The wish list of linguistic minorities
- Gujarat’s first and only Tamil higher secondary school in Maninagar, Ahmedabad was established in 1971 and was forced to shutdown by the BJP during its Golden Jubilee year despite the School Trust’s plea it to convert into an English-Medium one with Tamil as mother tongue for over 15 years when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the CM of Gujarat as MLA of Maninagar
- As true followers of Karma Veerar Kamarajar, Congress will revive the Tamil schools and other linguistic minority schools.
- Congress has published all subject textbooks for Std 1 to 10 in Tamil and also conducted the SSC Board Exams in Tamil in Gujarat. The BJP has only conducted the closing ceremony for the linguistic minority schools in Gujarat, especially Ahmedabad.
- Tamil Nadu Government led by former chief minister Muthamizh Aringar Dr M Karunanidhi has supported the Gujarat Tamils by granting free Tamil Language textbooks
- Our Constitution ensures the Right to Education in one’s Mother Tongue. Congress will implement it in letter and spirit
- Many linguistic migrants have turned into job-providers after studying in their Mother Tongue in Gujarat
- Thanks to the linguistic minority-Medium schools, many young generations have become professionals like CAs, doctors, engineers, entrepreneurs, central and state govt PSU staffers
- The State which boasts of industrial and economic development ought to pay back to the linguistic migrants by facilitating education in their Mother Tongue. Denying this basic right is nothing but denying mother’s milk to newborns
- On the one hand the BJP’s holding month-long Kashi Sangamam claiming to be the champion of the world’s oldest language Tamil. This is nothing but poll gimmick of the power-hungry saffron party
- Congress will build ‘Temples of Knowledge’ to help the linguistic minorities to stand on their own feet
- The rollback of tweaking the rights of minority-run institutions to appoint teachers and principals by 2021 Act
