Ahmedabad, April 23: The polling in the third phase of Lok Sabha Elections 2019 concluded at 5 pm on April 23. Gujarat has 26 Lok Sabha seats and voting in the state is taking place in a single phase on Tuesday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi cast his vote in Ahmedabad. After casting the vote, PM Modi said, "The weapon of terrorism is IED, the strength of democracy is voter ID. I can say with surety that the voter ID is much much more powerful than an IED, so we should understand the strength of our voter IDs." Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, senior BJP leader LK Advani and Indian cricketer Cheteshwar Pujara also cast their vote. Till 6 pm, 59.84 percent was recorded in the state. Lok Sabha Elections 2019 Phase III: List of States And Constituencies Voting On April 23.

The third phase of the elections also saw simultaneous voting in 116 seats spread across 15 states and union territories today. Gujarat has been the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) stronghold in the last 2 decades. Be it Lok Sabha Elections or Assembly Elections, the saffron party has won a majority in both the elections since 1995. On the flip side, the state was once a bastion for the Indian National Congress (INC), since its formation. However, since the BJP came to power in the state in 1995, the story is otherwise. Gujarat Lok Sabha Elections 2019 Schedule: Constituency Wise Dates Of Voting And Results For General Elections.

Out of the 14 Lok Sabha Elections that took place in Gujarat since 1962, the BJP has won a majority of seats in 7 elections, whereas Congress won the maximum number of seats in 6 elections.

In 2014 Lok Sabha Elections, the BJP secured its biggest win in the Indian electoral history of Gujarat, when it won all the 26 seats in state. The previous best performance in Gujarat was in 1980 when the Congress party had won 25 seats, and Janata Party had won a sole seat.

Fast forward to 2019, the political dynamics in the state have changed significantly. The same was evident in the 2017 Assembly Elections that took place in Gujarat, when BJP’s tally slipped below 100 for the first since they gained power in 1995.

In Gujarat, there are only two political alternatives, i.e. BJP and Gujarat. The situation also means that it is one of the few states where Congress and the BJP are locked in one-to-one electoral battles. It will be interesting to see if Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Ab Hoga Nyay’ is able to make inroads in PM Narendra Modi’s ‘Ab Ki Baar Fir Modi Sarkar’ poll campaign.

On March 10, the Election Commission (EC) had announced the schedule of 2019 Lok Sabha Elections. It had also announced that Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) will be used in every parliamentary constituency across India.

In its announcement, the EC had said that the 2019 General Elections will take place in seven phases. The first two phases took place on April 11 and 18 respectively. With the third phase of voting scheduled to take place today, i.e. April 23, the seventh phase of the General Elections will take place on May 19. The election results will be announced on May 23.

Along with the voters in Gujarat, the electorate in Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Goa, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and Tripura will also be voting today. Stay tuned to LatestLY for all the latest updates on 2019 Lok Sabha Elections.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 23, 2019 11:08 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).