Gujarat Assembly Elections 2017 What does 68% voters turnout in first phase signify? By Deepak Parvatiyar* On 13 December 2012 Gujarat had witnessed 70.75% of record breaking voting in the first phase of polling. That was a time when the BJP’s tallest Patel leader and former chief minister Keshubhai Patel had quit the BJP and set up his own political outfit, the Gujarat Parivartan Party. Still in 2012, BJP could win 63 of the 89 constituencies going for polls in the first phase. This included 5 of the total 6 seats in Kutch, and 30 of the total 48 seats in Saurashtra. The Congress had then got only 22 seats and GPP, 2 seats in the Patel nerve-centre, Saurashtra. The final outcome of the election showed that the then chief minister Narendra Modi was more than a match for the combined might of his rivals – the Congress as well as Keshubhai. Incidentally, there was not much anti-incumbency then as it is being projected now against the ruling state BJP in Guja
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