Gujarat Election 2022 Live Updates: PM Modi wraps up his Gujarat campaign, addresses 31 rallies

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said India developed strong relations with Islamic nations like Saudi Arabia after he assumed office in 2014. Addressing an election rally after leading a road show here on the penultimate day of campaigning for the second phase voting on December 5, he also slammed the Congress and claimed the opposition party and its governments splurged taxpayers' money on "family, relatives, and for their personal use".

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed over 31 rallies and led three big road shows in Gujarat wrapping up on Friday his campaign for the BJP in the assembly polls as the party looks to maintain its uninterrupted winning streak there since 1995 in a triangular contest involving the Congress and the AAP. Saturday is the last day for campaign, with the second and final phase of the polls for 93 seats set for December 5. The first phase of the polls for 89 seats were held on December 1.

Congress candidate Ashaben Patel, who was associated with the Patidar agitation, won the seat in 2017. Later she switched sides and joined the BJP and won the Unjha bypoll in 2019. However, the seat fell vacant after she passed away last year after suffering from dengue. There are more than two lakh electors in Unjha, of which over 70,000 belong to the Patidar Community, 50,000 voters are from the Thakor community and the remaining votes belong to Scheduled Caste, Other Backward Class, Muslim, and other communities.

The BJP, which lost Unjha last time due to the Patidar quota agitation, has pinned its hopes on Kiritkumar Keshavlal Patel, a Patidar and also an RSS functionary considered close to Mohan Bhagwat. Although the party had fielded another Patidar -- Narayanbhai Patel -- from the seat in 2017, traders opined that the anti-incumbency and his "interference" in mattes of the Agricultural Produce Market Committee here led to the BJP's defeat after a gap of almost 27 years.

CPI(M) leader Md Salim on Friday said he has lodged a police complaint in Kolkata against Paresh Rawal, alleging that the veteran actor made utterances during a recent poll rally in Gujarat that tantamounted to hate speech against the Bengali community. Salim, in his complaint to Taratola Police Station, said he came across a video on various social media platforms featuring the actor giving a speech, which could promote feelings of hatred against Bengalis.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday claimed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dispensation in Gujarat was not filling up five lakh posts in government and semi-government departments and institutions because half of them will go to aspirants from Dalit, tribal and other backward caste communities.

"The way Congress has started blaming EVMs after yesterday's voting in Kutch, Saurashtra and south Gujarat, it is evident the opposition party has conceded defeat and has accepted that the BJP will win the election. Alleging EVM tampering is an indication the Congress is on its way out," said Modi.

At Dhrafa village of Jamnagar district, the voters were apparently upset over the polling officers not making separate arrangements for men and women voters. In Kesar village of Bharuch district, the villagers boycotted the election alleging lack of basic facilities, it said. Samot village in Dediapada constituency of Narmada district with a total 1,625 voters boycotted the election over the issue of regularisation of a farm land in the village.

A total of 104 complaints were received during the process of voting, including six regarding malfunctioning of EVMs, two regarding bogus voting, 30 regarding law and order issue, 36 regarding violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), and 30 on issues like slow voting, bogus voting and power cuts, it said in a release.

At the same time, the party faces competition not just from its traditional rival Congress, but also the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which has positioned itself as the main contender for the party and is contesting on all but one seat. Apart from the BJP, Congress and AAP, 36 other political outfits, including the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Samajwadi Party (SP), Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) also fielded candidates in various seats.

In the 2017 election, out of these 89 seats, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had won 48, Congress 40, while one seat was bagged by an independent candidate.

Botad district recorded the lowest voter turnout of 57.58 per cent, it said in its final tally. Amreli followed closely with 57.59 per cent turnout. Ten districts recorded more than 60 per cent voting, while six others saw below 60 per cent voting. Surat recorded 62.27 per cent voting and Rajkot 60.45 per cent.

When Gujarat votes in the last phase of the assembly polls on Monday, senior organisational leaders of the BJP from across the country will begin a two-day meeting in the national capital to review the party's preparedness for the coming electoral challenges, including the all-important Lok Sabha elections in 2024.

A voter turnout of 63.14 per cent was recorded in the first phase of Gujarat Assembly elections covering 89 seats across 19 districts of Saurashtra-Kutch and southern regions of the state, the Election Commission said on Friday. In the 2017 Assembly election, the voter turnout in the first phase covering the same 89 constituencies stood at 66.75 per cent.