After a long drawn political battle between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi, the newly-elected President of Congress Party, the D-Day has arrived in Gujarat. The fight, which is still neck to neck, sprang a surprise for the ruling BJP as party President Amit Shah had recently said that his party would win 150 seats in Prime Minister's home state of Gujarat.
BJP, which has crossed the halfway mark of 91 seats, is still trailing in some of its strongholds. All eyes are on Gujarat results as the saffron party has been ruling the state for over two decades. The Congress stitched a broad social coalition with prominent Patidar, OBC, and Dalit leaders - Hardik Patel, Alpesh Thakor and Jigesh Mevani - in its bid to topple the saffron party.
11:30 CM Vijay Rupani wins with over 25,000 margin, Alpesh Thakor, Jignesh Mevani leading
11:04 BJP's Naresh Patel wins Gandevi Assembly seat| Congress' Bhavesh Katara wins Zalod Assembly seat.
11:02 Dalit leader and Independent candidate Jignesh Mevani leads by over 10,000 votes on Vadgam.
10:55 BJP projected to get 105 seats, Congress 76
10:19 BJP set to form the Gujarat government for the sixth time.
10:08 Confident that Congress will win and form the government in Gujarat: Ghulam Nabi Azad
09:55 Vijay Rupani leading 3,700 votes in Rajkot West.
09:40 BJP's Ravindra Patil leads with over 8,000 votes in fifth round in Limbayat constituency.
09:30 After trailing for a brief time, BJP is leading again in Gujarat.
09:22 Congress is leading in North Gujarat.
09:20 Congress is leading in Saurashtra.
09:15 What is emerging in Gujarat is good for the country. BJP and RSS tried to create a notion of invincibility of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi: D Raja
09:11 Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil trailing by 1300 votes from Kutch's Mandvi.08:55 Alpesh Thakor is leading in Radhanpur and Jignesh Mevani is leading in Vadgam.
08:45 The BJP is currently leading in 91 seats and Congress is leading in 56 seats.
08:32 In Himachal, Congress takes lead in 6 seats, BJP goes down to 11 seats from 13.
08:31 Former Congress State President Arjun Modhwadia is trailing.08:30 Alpesh Thakur and Jignesh Mewani are trailing as of now.
08:26 BJP Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel are leading in their respective constituency.
08:25 The BJP is leading in North Gujarat.
08:20 The Congress is catching up and now leading on 24 seats compared to the BJP's 30 seats.
08:15 The BJP is leading on 15 seats and the Congress is leading on 4 seats.
The voter turnout in the second phase of balloting on December 14, for 93 seats of North and Central Gujarat, stood at 69.99 per cent. In the first phase of polls held on December 9 for 89 seats in Saurasthra, Kutch and South Gujarat, 66.75 per cent voting was recorded. The total voter turnout this time has seen a dip of 2.91 per cent, as compared to the 2012 polls when 71.32 per cent polling was registered.
In terms of numbers, of the total 4.35 crore registered voters, 2.97 crore exercised their right to franchise in the elections held on December 9 and 14. The Election Commission data showed that the tribal-dominated Narmada district witnessed the highest voter turnout of 79.15 per cent, while Devbhumi-Dwarka of Saurashtra region recorded the lowest at 59.39 per cent.
The districts which recorded a high turnout are Tapi (78.56 per cent), Banaskantha (75.15) and Sabarkantha (74.97). The districts which saw a low turnout are Amreli (61.29), Bhavnagar (61.56) and Porbandar (61.86).
Out of the total 33 districts, 15 recorded over 70 per cent polling, while 17 others clocked between 60 per cent and 70 per cent. Only Devbhumi Dwarka district registered polling below 60 per cent.