BJP's Rivaba jumps ahead to first spot after trailing initially

GANDHINAGAR: Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from the Jamnagar North seat, Rivaba Jadeja who was earlier trailing at the third spot in the early hours of counting of votes, is now leading at the top spot but the final results.

According to the latest trends by the Election Commission till 10.30 am, Rivaba. who is contesting against AAP's Ahir Karshanbhai Parbatbhai Karmur and Congress' Bipendrasinh Jadeja, is leading with 14,905 votes so far, garnering over 50 per cent votes.

The AAP candidate is placed at the second spot with 7,235 votes so far and the Congress candidate has got 5,288 votes. According to the latest trends on 179 seats out of 182, the BJP is leading on 148. If the party manages to solidify the present numbers, it will be all set to break its own previous record of 127 in the 2002 Assembly elections.

Congress has managed to reach double digits but is far behind the BJP with 19 seats while AAP is struggling as it managed to reach single digit lead with 8 seats. The counting of votes for the Gujarat Assembly elections began on Thursday at 8 am.

The counting in Gujarat began at 37 centres in 33 districts. Gujarat Chief Electoral Officer P Bharathi said that 182 counting observers, 182 election officers and 494 assistant election officers are on duty for the counting process. There will be an additional 78 Assistant Election Officers for the counting of votes. In addition, 71 additional Assistant Election Officers have been assigned responsibility for the electronically transmitted postal ballot system in the previous polls Assembly elections in Gujarat were held in two phases on December 1 and 5 respectively.

The approximate voter turnout in Gujarat by the end of the second phase of the Gujarat elections was recorded at 59.11 per cent. During the first phase of polling on December 1, Gujarat saw an overall turnout of 63.14 per cent. While polling for 68 assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh was held on November 12.

Meanwhile, the exit polls have indicated a clear win for the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Gujarat. BJP has been in power in Gujarat for 27 years with Prime Minister Narendra Modi remaining in the Chief Minister's post for the longest time before becoming the Prime Minister. Congress gave a tough fight to the ruling BJP in the last assembly elections in 2017. However, AAP may spoil the game for Congress by taking away a significant vote share in their favour.