NEW DELHI: Polling began Thursday for the second and final phase of crucial assembly elections in Gujarat, the home state of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Voting started in the morning and will go on till 5 p.m. local time (1130 GMT) for 93 assembly seats in 14 districts of the western state, where Modi’s right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been in power for the past 22 years. Modi, who was Gujarat’s chief minister from 2001 till 2014 when he became the prime minister after his party swept the general elections, cast his ballot at a polling booth around noon. BJP chief Amit Shah from Gujarat also exercised his franchise. A total of 851 candidates are in the fray for the 93 seats, mainly from BJP and the Congress, the country’s and the state’s main opposition party which has managed to rope in a few regional leaders as its coalition partners. Gujarat has a total of 182 assembly seats. In the first phase, voting was held for 89 seats. The results will be announced on Dec. 18. This is a crucial election for Modi and his BJP, after the assembly polls in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh where the BJP swept to power decimating all its rivals earlier this year. Modi himself led an aggressive election campaign for the BJP in Gujarat. This is an equally important election for the Congress party and its recently elected chief Rahul Gandhi, the scion of India’s Nehru-Gandhi family. And this is for the first time since 1995 that the Congress is looking at its best chance yet to wrest Gujarat from the BJP. The Congress is banking on anti-incumbency factor and a win will only help cement Gandhi’s position in the grand old party that has been struggling in almost all parts of the country. Published in Daily Times, December 15th 2017.