An Indian voter gets her finger marked with ink at a polling station during India’s general election in Shahpur near Muzaffarrnagar in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh on April 11, 2019. – India’s mammoth six-week general election kicked off April 11, with polling stations in the country’s northeast among the first to open. (Photo by Money SHARMA / AFP) (Photo credit should read MONEY SHARMA/AFP/Getty Images)
The voting is being held across 14,382 polling stations, of which 3,311 are in the urban and 11,071 in rural areas, the office of the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said.
Live webcasting is being done from 13,065 polling stations to keep a close eye on the process, it said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, which has ruled Gujarat for 27 years, is trying to retain power in the state for the seventh term in a row. If it succeeds, it will equal the record of the Left Front government which won the West Bengal elections for seven consecutive terms till 2011.
This time, the BJP faces competition not just from its traditional rival Congress but also the new poll entrant Aam Aadmi Party, which has tried to position itself as the main challenger of the ruling party.
The BJP and the Congress are contesting in all 89 seats.
The Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP is contesting in 88 seats. Its candidate from Surat East constituency had withdrawn his candidature, leaving the party with one less seat to contest in the first phase.
