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Gujarat: Curtain comes down on poll campaign, over to April 23

BJP banking on Modi's charisma to repeat 2014 sweep, Cong on NYAY

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Campaigning for elections to the 26 Lok Sabha seats in the state, which are among the 115 seats that go to polls on Tuesday, April 23 culminated on Sunday. The last day of the low-key campaign saw prime minister Narendra Modi addressing a public meeting in Patan, and BJP president Amit Shah holding a roadshow in Sanand.

More than 4.50 crore registered voters in the state will decide the fate of 371 candidates, who are in the fray for the 26 Lok Sabha seats. Besides BJP and Congress, which are engaged in a direct battle in all seats, candidates of dozens of smaller outfits, and more than 180 independent candidates, are also in the running.

"The campaigning for the Gujarat Lok Sabha elections ended at 6:00 pm today, and the 48-hour silent period till the end of polling began," state's chief electoral officer S Murali Krishna, told reporters.

Rallies and public meetings are prohibited during the 48-hour silent period, but political parties and candidates are allowed to conduct door-to-door campaign. Krishna said that as per the model code of conduct, political persons, who were campaigning in the state, but are not registered as voters here, will be required to leave. "We have directed police and district authorities to ensure strict compliance with model code of conduct. All inter-state and international borders have been sealed," he said.

The CEO said that citizens could approach them on the helpline 1950 in case of any complaints. Campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections was a low-key affair. The BJP, which won all 26 seats in 2014, is banking on the charisma of prime minister Narendra Modi to repeat the feat. Modi addressed seven public meetings in his home state - each of them in seats where Congress had its nose ahead.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi addressed five rallies in the state in a bid to boost performance of his party, which is confident of winning a 6-7 seats in the state. Campaigning was acrimonious with Modi accusing Congress of being soft on terror and having an anti-Gujarat mindset, and Gandhi repeatedly attacking the PM with the chowkidar chor hai taunt for the alleged irregularities in Rafale deal and is hoping to woo voters with its NYAY scheme.

Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu and Patidar leader Hardik Patel were among the Congress's star campaigners.

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