The Ahmedabad Police has denied permission to the roadshows of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi scheduled tomorrow, the last day of campaigning for the second and final phase of Gujarat Assembly elections, citing law and order and public inconvenience.
The officials asserted that there was a possibility of some overlap between PM Modi and Rahul Gandhi’s roadshows as the processions were likely to cross each other at some point in the day.
The police officials suggested that maintaining law and order situation would be difficult if both leaders were out on the city’s streets.
While permission was also denied to Hardik Patel, the Patidar leader has defied the orders of the police, and has began an extensive roadshow from Bopal in Ahmedabad West to Nikol in Ahmedabad East. His roadshow will be covering 97 areas in the city and will end with a public meeting in Nikol which had seen widespread violence during the Patidar quota agitation.
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The Prime Minister's roadshow was supposed to take him from Dharnidhar Derasar in west Ahmedbad to the Sabarmati Riverfront. Rahul Gandhi, on the other hand, was to travel from Jamalpur in east Ahmedbad to Memco, located on the outskirts of the city.
PM Modi and Rahul Gandhi will address a number of rallies that they were set to hold at the end of their roadshows. PM Modi is set to address rallies in Patan, Nadiad and Ahmedabad today. Rahul Gandhi is to address meetings in Tharad, Viramgam, Savli and Gandhinagar.
The second phase of polling is scheduled to take place on December 14, and the results will be announced on December 18.
The first phase of voting, held on December 9, witnessed a massive 68 per cent voter turnout, though it was less compared to over 70 per cent in 2012.
