By NewsDrum Desk

Ahmedabad: Long caught between two polarities, Gujarat’s electoral field has expanded to include a third party with the Aam Aadmi Party challenging the ruling BJP as well as the opposition Congress that has lost ground but still has a significant presence.

Elections to the 182-member state assembly will take place over two phases on December 1 and 5, the Election Commission announced on Thursday in the backdrop of the Morbi bridge collapse four days ago. As campaign knives get sharpened, the October 30 tragedy in which 135 people lost their lives could find emotive resonance.

Besides, the freebie versus welfarism debate - over which challenger AAP and BJP have been sparring over the last several weeks -- and the ruling party’s main poll planks of Hindutva, 'double engine' growth' and continuity in governance are likely to remain centre stage.

Though elections were announced today, the buzz for what will be a three-cornered contest has been getting steadily louder over the last few weeks.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several Union ministers have been making frequent visits to the state. Modi was in Morbi on November 1 to review the situation. And all eyes are on AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal as well as his party leaders who have made a high-decibel entry into the field, giving voters a third option in a state that has for decades been bipolar in its politics.

The elections are crucial for BJP, which has won six successive terms and aims at retaining power in Modi’s home state, as well as for AAP, hoping desperately that a win in Gujarat will propel it to a pan-India political force, the third state in its bag after Delhi and a victory in Punjab in March this year.

The Congress, on its part, hopes to end its 27-year stint in the Opposition but has so far been quiet with its national leaders conspicuous by their absence.

The BJP has 111 seats and the Congress 62 in the current assembly. The NCP has one, BTP two, Independent one and five seats are vacant, including three after Congress MLAs resigned.

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