Gandhinagar, Apr 19: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday filed his nomination from the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat. Amit Shah was accompanied by Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on the occasion.

The Congress has pitted Sonal Patel from the Gandhinagar seat against Amit Shah, who is eyeing a second consecutive term from here. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Amit Shah registered a massive victory after defeating CJ Chavda with a victory margin of 5.55 lakh votes. Chavda had contested the 2019 polls on a Congress ticket but later joined the BJP.

After filing the nomination, Home Minister Amit Shah said that it was a matter of pride for him to contest from Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat as it had been represented by Bharatiya Janata Party stalwarts in the past.

"Today I have filed my nomination from the Gandhinagar seat. It is a matter of pride for me that this seat was represented by LK Advani, Atal ji, and the seat where Narendra Modi himself is a voter. I have been an MLA, and MP from this seat for 30 years. The people of this region have given me immense love. I was a small-time booth worker and now I reached the Parliament from this constituency. Development projects worth Rs 22,000 crore have been completed in the last five years in Gandhinagar," Amit Shah said.

The Home Minister said that he was confident that the NDA would cross the 400 seat mark and go on to lay the foundation for Viksit Bharat.
, "In this election, the whole country is excited to make Narendra Modi the Prime Minister for the third time with 400 'paar'...Under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi, the country has gained glory in the entire world...The 10 years that the people of the country gave were spent in filling the holes made by the UPA government and these next 5 years to be the years of laying the foundation for building a Viksit Bharat...I appeal to people to vote and make the lotus blossom everywhere with a huge majority and make us successful in achieving the target of crossing 400 seats," Amit Shah said.

All 26 seats of Gujarat go to the polls in a single phase on May 7.

The BJP whitewashed the Congress in the 2019 and 2014 general elections by winning all 26 constituencies in Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Voting for the first phase of Lok Sabha elections 2024 began on Friday across 102 parliamentary constituencies spread over 21 states and Union Territories as the mega seven-phase electoral exercise commenced at 7:00 am.

Voters will exercise their franchise until 6:00 pm. According to the data released by the Election Commission of India (ECI), a total of 1.87 lakh polling stations have been set up, while 18 lakh personnel have been deployed across the 102 constituencies going to the polls.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking his third consecutive term, while the opposition bloc-INDIA- a coalition of opposing parties formed to take on the BJP in the general elections, is eyeing to oust him from power.

The second phase will be held on April 26 and the remaining phases will be May 7, May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1 accordingly. The last general elections in 2019 were also held in seven phases.

(ANI)

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