Gujarat Assembly elections | BJP fights complacency, works hard to bring voters to the polling booth
The HinduThis round of polls in Gujarat elicits various responses, none as strong as the supposed inevitability of a BJP win, the only people not so sanguine about result day, however, are party old timers, who are intent on whipping the vote out come polling day. At his election office in the Sabarmati Assembly constituency in Ahmedabad, Harshad Patel, a long time election agent for Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and finally a candidate himself for the seat, says that while he has no doubt the BJP will win, he has set a target for himself, of ensuring 75% voting on polling day. Read | Gujarat Assembly polls: BJP campaigners use Mehrauli murder and Medha Patkar to target Congress The BJP dropped nearly 42 sitting MLAs and replaced them with fresh candidates, in part, even former Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, former Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel along with other stalwarts were dropped from the candidate list, say party insiders to combat the feeling of fatigue among the party’s own voters who have seen 27 years of uninterrupted rule by the BJP. Yamal Vyas, chief spokesperson of the BJP in Gujarat, says with the page system put in place, in-charges of each page on a constituency’s voter list will have an effect on bringing up the vote.