Beating the heat: Gujarat polling to start an hour early

The Election Commission has put in place an elaborate plan to beat the scorching summer heat, allowing voting to commence one hour earlier than normal in the morning and making medical arrangements to tackle emergencies for its polling officers.

Polling for the 26 Lok Sabha seats in the state on Thursday will start at 7 am instead of 8 am, and end at 5 pm, State Chief Electoral Officer Anita Karwal said on Wednesday.

She said the 182 teams of medical and paramedical personnel would fan out across all the constituencies to treat polling officials in case they are hit by the heatwave.

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Stung by Naveen, BJP ropes in Modi to lead Orissa campaign

Its 11-year alliance with the BJD dead, a bitter BJP is calling in its heaviest hitter to mount an aggressive attack on “most dependable ally” turned “betrayer” Naveen Patnaik. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi will spearhead the high voltage BJP campaign, which begins with a Vijay Sankalp rally in Bhubaneswar on March 16.

Modi will not be present at the opening rally, but will thereafter concentrate his energies on Orissa in an extensive, statewide campaign that will also feature the NDA’s prime ministerial candidate L K Advani, BJP chief Rajnath Singh and former Union minister Sushma Swaraj, said Orissa BJP president Suresh Pujari.

Nearly every senior BJP leader other than Modi will at tend the March 16 show, Pujari said. “We will tell the people of Orissa how trusting Naveen Patnaik is a dangerous step.”

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