FIRST PHASE OF VOTING TODAY AS GUJ GOES TO POLLS

AHMEDABAD: Voting will be held on Thursday for the first phase of Gujarat Assembly elections in 89 seats spread across 19 districts in Saurashtra-Kutch and southern parts of the state where 788 candidates are in the fray.

Campaigning for the first phase of the elections in the BJP-ruled state ended at 5 pm on Tuesday. Voting will be held between 8am and 5pm on Thursday across 14,382 polling stations, the office of the state chief electoral officer said.

Out of the 89 seats going to polls in the first phase, the BJP won 48 in the 2017 election, the Congress had won 40, while one seat was bagged by an independent candidate.

AFP The United States stormed into the World Cup last 16 on Tuesday by beating Iran 1-0 at a cacophonous Al Thumama Stadium in a showdown shrouded by decades of enmity between the two nations.