Ahmedabad:
PM Narendra Modi today stood in queue for around five minutes with common voters to cast his vote at a booth in Ranip area under Sabarmati assembly constituency in Ahmedabad city of Gujarat.

Earlier his 97 year old mother Hiraba, who lives in capital Gandhinagar with Modi’s younger brother Pankaj Modi, also exercised her franchise at a booth in sector 22 under Gandhinagar North constituency.

Modi, who has set a record of sorts today by becoming the first sitting PM to ever cast vote in Gujarat, arrived at the airport here from Maharashtra. He arrived at the Nishan Vidyalaya booth in Ranip area at around 1210 in the noon. He stood in the queue with his voter slip in hand with commoners and even chatted with the voters in front of him. A huge crowd gathered outside the booth, many of whom were on the roof tops and balconies of nearby buildings started shouting Modi-Modi. PM Modi while standing in the queue kept waving at the crowd too.

He went inside the booth on his turn and singed in front of his name in the voters list there after which a lady polling personnel put the ink on his index finger and he cast his vote.

After that he came out showing his finger to the cheering crowd. He kept walking on the road for a few minutes showing his finger to the crowd without uttering anything as a silent appeal to people to vote in large numbers. He then sat in his vehicle and kept waving at the people from the opened front door.

Earlier local BJP candidate and outgoing MLA Arvind Patel greeted him on his arrival to the booth. Notably, on this very booth a controversy has erupted during 2014 Loksabha polls on PM Modi wearing a party symbol on his kurta and addressing press nearby. However, Congress party has again made a complaint with the EC today claiming that PM Modi had held a road show before and after voting.

Meanwhile, Hiraba was among the early voters in the state who despite age related weakness beat the morning cold and arrived at the sector 22 primary school booth at around 0815 am. She was assisted by her son Pankaj Modi with whom she lived in Raisan. Local BJP MLA cum candidate Ashok Patel was also present on the occasion. She had to take a brief rest after the voting on a chair. After voting when newsmen asked her question she only uttered, ‘ May lord bless Gujarat.’

BJP president Amit shah cast his vote at a booth in Naranpur area. He had cast his vote at around 9 am.

According to official figures the voting percentage in first two hours was only 12.39. However owing to unofficial figures in the first four hours it was over 23%.

DeshGujarat