Vijay Rupani, the Chief Minister since August last year, was behind his Congress rival Indranil Rajguru in Rajkot West. Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani was trailing on Monday as votes were counted in the state assembly election. Mr. Rupani, Chief Minister since August last year, was behind his Congress rival Indranil Rajguru in Rajkot West.

Mr. Vijay Rupani is the first Chief Minister from when Narendra Modi to face elections in Gujarat. Rajkot West is a fame seat for the BJP. Prime Minister Narendra Modi struck the first-ever election of his life from this constituency and won. Rajkot is the financial nerve-center of the Saurashtra region, where the Congress is seen to have made big gains.

There are 75,000 Patidar votes in the constituency; the community, which is aggressively campaigning for quota in government jobs and education, has been upset with the BJP and its biggest face Hardik Patel is supporting the Congress. Elections for the 182-seat Gujarat assembly were held on December 9 and 14, after a bitter campaign in which PM Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi traded barbs.

Gujarat Assembly election getting very aggressive start from BJP. In Mandvi, Congress' Chaudhry Anandbhai Mohanbhai is ahead of BJP's Pravinbhai Merjibhai Chaudhari. In Porbandar, BJP's Babubhai Bhimabhai Bokhiriya is ahead of Congress' Arjunbhai Devabhai Modhvadiya. Alpesh Thakor is now leading from Radhanpur. Trends available for 182 seats at 9 am BJP ahead in 80 seats, Congress in 72 and Other 2. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) AK Joti responds to EVM tampering allegations: "I assure you that there can be no tampering with the EVMs. Questions being raised about EVMs have already been answered by us in the media. VVPATs were there in every polling stations in Gujarat, which enabled voters to see whom they voted for, so issues being raised aren't right. I assure that EVMs cannot be tampered with."