When our soldiers faced the Chinese, you hugged their envoy: Modi to Rahul

PM Modi says Gujarat poll is a contest between trust on development and dynastic politics

In a stinging attack on the Congress in poll-bound Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said the upcoming Assembly election is a fight between trust on development and dynastic politics.

He was addressing a BJP rally in Kutch district's Bhuj town ahead of the first phase of the elections on December 9.

He also alluded to allegations thrown at him during the campaign by Congress leaders, including party vice-president Rahul Gandhi.

"This Gujarat son has no stains in his public life. You come to the state and level baseless allegations on the son of the soil... the people of the state will not forgive you," he said.

During his campaign in the state in the last few days, Gandhi had trained his guns at the Modi-led government over the Rafale fighter aircraft deal.

"The Gujarat election is a contest between trust on development and dynastic politics," the prime minister said at the rally.

Taking another dig at the opposition party, which is making all-out efforts to dislodge the long-ruling BJP in Gujarat, Modi asked, "When our soldiers were standing eye-to-eye in Dokalam for 70 days, why were you hugging the Chinese ambassador."

The Prime Minister will address a series of campaign meetings on Monday and on Wednesday in Saurashtra and South Gujarat, which go to the polls on December 9.

The elections to the 182-member Gujarat Assembly will be held in two phases on December 9 and 14. The counting of votes will be on December 18.

Kerala assembly elections: S Sreesanth hopes to bowl BJP to maiden win in Thiruvananthapuram

Key Contestants: V S Sivakumar (UDF), Antony Raju(LDF - Democratic Kerala Congress), S Sreesanth (BJP)

Sitting MLA: V S Sivakumar (Congress)

1) V S Sivakumar

Strengths:

Minister of Health, Family Welfare and Devaswom. Well known to the voters in Thiruvananthapuram and is making an all out effort this time to retain his seat. He is also listing out several initiatives he took as the Health Minister to impress upon the voters of his administrative experience over his lesser experienced opponents.

Weakness:

Anti-incumbency is likely to be the biggest factor as he is part of the Oommen Chandy government.

2) Antony Raju

Strengths:

Antony Raju, earlier part of the Kerala Congress (M), a partner in UDF, crossed over to the LDF and formed the new party ‘Janathipathya Kerala Congress' in March. He is a popular face in the constituency and will attract a lot of voters.

Weakness:

Switched sides from UDF to LDF very recently. Committed LDF voters may not vote for him as he is likely to be seen as an opportunist who switched sides at the last minute for pure electoral benefits.

3) S Sreesanth

Strengths:

Sreesanth's popularity is wide, especially among the young voters. Kerala has never had a more stronger cricketer than Sreesanth who has played for the national team and the benefits of that popularity may help the BJP in gaining a lot of votes. He is also banking on PM Modi's development agenda to attract young voters to the party. Read More.

West Bengal assembly polls: Around 22% voter turnout recorded in first two hours

Nearly 22% turnout was recorded in the first two hours after polling began in 49 constituencies spread over two districts - Howrah and North 24 Parganas - bordering Kolkata in phase four of the West Bengal assembly elections on Monday.

"Till 9.00 a.m, 21.87% turnout was recorded, with 22.63% in North 24 Parganas and 20.34% in Howrah," said an Election Commission (EC) official.

Read more from our special coverage on "WEST BENGAL ASSEMBLY POLLS"

• West Bengal assembly polls: Fourth phase of voting begins today
• Congress, CPI(M) will realise mistake of forging alliance: Mamata Banerjee
• Rahul Gandhi attacks Mamata Banerjee, Modi; seeks vote for Cong-CPI(M) in Bengal
• Bengal assembly polls: CPI(M) not to succumb to politics of terror, says Sitaram Yechury
• West Bengal Assembly polls: Mamata Banerjee responds to EC show-cause notice

While the EC claimed the polls to be peaceful so far, the BJP and the Congress alleged false voting in some of the booths.

BJP's Roopa Ganguly contesting from Howrah North alleged false voting in one of the booths and also faced angry protests from alleged Trinamool Congress activists.

Her rival from the Trinamool Congress, retired international cricketer Laxmi Ratan Shukla, denied the charges and claimed polling was peaceful in the constituency.

North 24 Parganas, a part of which falls under the world's largest mangrove forests - the Sundarbans - has 33 constituencies. The remaining 16 are in Howrah.

Over 1.08 crore (1,08,16,942) voters across 12,481 polling stations, including 27 auxiliary booths, are eligible to decide the fate of 345 candidates - 40 of them female - between 7.00 a.m and 6.00 p.m.

The Election Commission has used 14,353 electronic voting machines (EVM) and 680 Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT).

A total of 672 companies of central forces and 23,000 state police personnel have been deployed, in addition to other measures, to ensure free and fair polls in the two districts, considered volatile in view of their history of political clashes and poll-related disturbances in past Elections.

In the Sundarbans region, equipped with ham radio operations to solar lights, officials have gone the extra mile to ensure the electorate gets a chance to exercise their voting rights.

In the 2011 assembly polls, the Trinamool Congress - then an ally of the Congress - had bagged 43 of the 49 seats. The Congress had got two, the Left Front spearhead Communist Party of India-Marxist three and the Communist Party of India one.

The Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party are in fray in all the constituencies. The Left Front constituents and the Congress are contesting 46 seats, leaving one seat to Janata Dal-United, besides backing two independents.Read more about Assembly Elections in 2016.