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CoverStory

• Zero account Modi and Amit Shah have repeatedly appealed to the voters
to make sure that the Congress doesn’t open its account in Gujarat

it has to be seen how people use their and replaced him with Shah. Ahmedabad East, Ahmedabad West,
wisdom this time. The saffron party is also pegged to Mehsana, Kheda. The ruling party is also
The undercurrent of “Brand Modi” emerge victorious from the crucial Val- slated to reign supreme in Panchmahal,
(as opposed to Modi wave of 2014) has sad seat. Popular belief is that which- Dahod, Sabarkantha, Surendranagar
gradually grown up in the minds of the ever party wins Valsad forms the gov- and Navsari.
voters. BJP hopes to perform better. “It ernment at the Centre. Vadodara, from The voter turnout in the 26 constit-
won’t be a cakewalk for the Congress. where Narendra Modi had contested in uencies of Gujarat after the voting in
Whatever number of seats the BJP wins 2014 and won, will also go to the BJP. the third phase of Lok Sabha election
in Chhattisgarh, its credit will go to the The BJP is also expected to win in was 62.36 per cent. Bardoli topped the
RSS,” feel social scientists working in Surat, Rajkot, Jamnagar, Porbandar, polling charts with 68.9 per cent voter
tribal areas of this state. Kachchh, Bharuch, Bhavnagar, Bardoli, turnout while Kutch Lok Sabha con-
stituency recorded 51 per cent turnout.
Gujarat While the Congress is hoping to
In 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Con- make dent in the BJP tally in Gujarat
gress is set to wrest six Lok Sabha seats The polarisation after the grand old party put up an
from the BJP in its saffron fortress of of votes because impressive show in the 2017 Assem-
Gujarat, where the ruling party had in bly polls. The Congress hopes to cash
2014 won all 26 constituencies. Political of Sabarimala in on the resentment of the patidars
observers say that this time Congress issue is imminent in and rural-urban divide to win at least
is posing close challenge to ruling BJP five to six seats in the State. On the
in six constituencies including Anand, Kerala and may other hand, Prime Minister Narendra
Banaskantha, Junagadh, Chhota give a chance to BJP Modi and Amit Shah have made repeat-
Udaipur, Amreli and Patan. ed pleas to the voters to make sure than
It is likely to be a cakewalk for BJP to win one or two the Congress didn’t open its account
president Amit Shah from the prestig- seats in its recently from the State.
ious Gandhinagar seat, which was held
by party veteran LK Advani for five con- emerged pockets of Northeastern Region
secutive terms. In 2019 Lok Sabha elec- BJP’s aggression to once disturbed
tions, the BJP denied ticket to Advani influence in the state northeastern region of the coun-

Tehelka / 15 may 2019 22 www.Tehelka.com