All set for vote count

The fate of the candidates, including the deputy prime minister L K Advani, will be known on Thursday when votes polled for the 26 Lok Sabha seats in the state will be counted.

The election authorities in the state have made all the arrangements and security has been stepped up in view of the counting. Counting will start at 8 am amidst tight security.

"Counting will start at 8 am in all the 26 counting centres at the district headquarters across all the constituencies," said J P Jadeja, consultant to the chief election commissioner, Gujarat.

The Election Commission has deployed over 3,000 gazetted officers, apart from revenue department officials, for counting.

Nobody other than counting staffs and agents of the candidates will be allowed inside the centres. The authorities have ensured tight security outside all the counting centres. Prohibitionary orders have been issued by the district magistrates.

"The results are expected to come in from 2 pm. The Election Commission is positive on declaring the results of all the constituencies before 6 pm. There are over 36,000 booths in the state.

The results of Surat and Gandhinagar constituencies are expected to be declared late in the evening as both the constituencies have the largest number of polling booths.

The Election Commission has made special arrangements to announce results.

Results will be announcement from all the counting centres. The results can be viewed at the commission's website www.eci.gov.in, which would be regularly updated.

Polling in Gujarat was held on April 20.

The fate of Advani (Gandhinagar), Union rural development minister Kashiram Rana (Surat), minister of tourism, Bhavnaben Chikhlia (Junagadh), minister of state for defence production Harin Pathak (Ahmedabad) constituency will be known on Thursday. Union minister Vallabhbhai Kathiria is contesting from Rajkot parliamentary constituency.

President of BJP Gujarat unit Rajendrasinh Rana is contesting from Bhavnagar, while senior Congress leader and former chief minister Shankersinh Vaghela is contesting from Kheda constituency.

In the last parliamentary elections, Congress won only five seats while BJP bagged 21.