Heeraben cast her vote at a polling booth in Gujarat's Unjha. (File Photo)
Jashodaben, the wife of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, cast her vote at a polling booth in Gujarat's Unjha in the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections today. "Modi sahab has done a lot for the country, and he will do more," news agency ANI quoted her as saying minutes after she stepped out of the polling booth.
Nearly a hundred kilometres away, PM Modi's mother - Heeraben - also voted at a polling booth in the state's Gandhinagar district. Earlier that day, PM Modi had dropped by her house in Raysan village to seek her blessings.
With PM Modi governing the nation from Delhi, his younger brother - Pankaj Modi - takes care of Heeraben. She had hit the headlines during the demonetisation drive in 2016, after mediapersons found her standing in queue along with many others to withdraw cash from a bank.
The Prime Minister was born in a family of eight, with his father's earnings from a tea stall at the local railway station helping them make both ends meet. Assisting his father at the tea stall was fun, he said, because it gave him a chance to interact with people from places across the country.
Although PM Modi used to contest from the Vadodara assembly constituency while he was still a state leader, he won the 2014 Lok Sabha polls from Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi. He is contesting from the same seat this time.
BJP president Amit Shah is contesting from Gandhinagar, a seat that traditionally belonged to party veteran LK Advani. The Congress has fielded two-time legislator CJ Chavda against him in what is being dubbed as a David-versus-Goliath battle.
While 371 candidates are contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Gujarat's 26 seats, 45 others have been fielded for the bypolls to four assembly constituencies. Over 4.41 crore people - 2.14 crore of them women - are eligible to vote in Gujarat this time. More than 51,000 polling stations have been set up across the state.
(With inputs from ANI)