PM Modi's elder brother meets him on Gujarat election day, advises him to 'take some rest': 'He works a lot for country'

Indian prime minister Narendra Modi's elder brother Somabhai Modi cast his vote in Ahmedabad on Monday (5) in the second phase of the Assembly elections.

Somabhai cast his vote at Nishan Public school, Ranip in Ahmedabad, the same polling booth where PM Modi had also voted.

Somabhai got emotional as he talked about the prime minister who visited him earlier in the day.

Speaking to Asian News International, the prime minister's brother revealed his interaction with him.

"I asked him (PM Modi) that he works a lot for the country, and he should take some rest as well," Somabhai said.

He said that the people of the country cannot ignore the kind of work that is being done at the national level since 2014, which he believed would be the basis of voting in the Gujarat Assembly elections.

"My only message to the voters is that they should use their votes well. They should vote for such a party that would work for the development of the country. The people have seen the kind of work that has been done at the national level since 2014, they cannot ignore it. People will vote based on that," he said.

Earlier in the day, PM Modi cast his vote and thanked the people of Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and Gujarat for celebrating the festival of democracy with great pomp.

"The festival of democracy has been celebrated with great pomp by the people of Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi. I want to thank the people of the country. I also want to congratulate Election Commission (EC) for conducting elections peacefully," PM Modi said.

The locals in Ahmedabad, who were at the polling booth where the Prime Minister cast his vote, said that they had come to the booth early morning to get a glimpse of the prime minister.

"We have come early morning to see the Prime Minister. We first saw him, then cast our votes. We feel very proud when we see the Prime Minister. It is a moment of bliss when PM Modi comes here to cast his vote," one of the locals said.

Earlier, Erstwhile royal Rajmata Shubhanginiraje Gaekwad, cast her vote at a polling booth in Vadodara and asked people to exercise their right to vote.

"Voting is our right. I appeal to everyone to exercise their franchise. There is no right without responsibility," she said.

Polling for the second and final phase of the Gujarat assembly elections for 93 Assembly constituencies across 14 districts of north and central Gujarat began at 8 am amid tight security arrangements on Monday.

As many as 833 candidates from 61 parties are in the fray in the second phase of the Gujarat elections whose fate will be decided by over 2.51 crore (25.1 million) electorates.

The EC has established 26,409 polling booths and nearly 36,000 electronic voting machines (EVMs) will be used for the purpose. Around 29,000 presiding officers and over 84,000 polling officers have been deployed in 14 districts to facilitate the polls.

According to Gujarat's chief electoral officer P Bharathi, of the total 26,409 polling stations, 93 are model polling booths, 93 are eco-friendly booths, another 93 are managed by Divyang and 14 are managed by youth. Webcasting will be done in 13,319 polling booths in the second phase.

"Total of 2,51,58,730 voters will vote, of which, 1,29,26,501 are men, 1,22,31,335 are women and 894 are from the third gender," Bharathi said.

The 93 poll-bound seats in the second phase are spread across Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Mehsana, Patan, Banaskantha, Sabarkantha, Aravali, Mahisagar, Panchmahal, Dahod, Vadodara, Anand, Kheda and Chhota Udaipur districts.

Among other prominent names who cast their votes in the final phase in Gujarat were Indian home minister Amit Shah, Uttar Pradesh governor and former Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel, Aam Aadmi Party's chief ministerial candidate Isudan Gadhvi, Gujarat Congress president Jagdish Thakor; and cricketers Irfan Pathan, Hardik Pandya and Krunal Pandya.

During the first phase of polling in 89 seats on December 1, Gujarat saw an overall turnout of 63.14 per cent.

The counting of votes will take place on Thursday (8).