The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took early lead as officials on Monday began counting of votes polled for 182 seats in the Gujarat Assembly elections.
Of the 118 seats for which trends were available, the BJP is leading from 75 seats while the Congress is leading on 42, while an independent candidate is leading from one seat.
Election Commission officials indicated shortly after vote count began at 8 a.m. that Bharatiya Janata Party candidates were ahead in 14 seats while the Congress had forged ahead in two seats.
A look at the early trends for key candidates in this high-stakes battle:
- Vijay Rupani, incumbent Chief Minister of Gujarat, is leading from his seat Rajkot West.
- Nitin Patel, Deputy CM of Gujarat, is leading from Mehsana.
- Congress's Pradhyuman Singh Jadeja is leading in Abdasa, which is an incumbent Congress seat
- BJP's incumbent Ashok Kumar Patel is leading in Gandhinagar North
- Congress's Kiritkumar Patel is leading in Patan,a seat held by BJP
- In south Gujarat Congress candidates are ;eading in Visavadar, Porbandar, Kutiyana, Mangrol
- In Central Gujarat, the Congress is leading in Limbdi and Chotila
Voting in Gujarat took place on December 9 and 14.
