Harish Rawat casts his vote in Dehradun, dismisses talk of 'Modi wave'

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat cast his vote here on Wednesday, the penultimate phase of the ongoing general elections.

"We are going to win in this election. We are very confident about this and have no doubt about it. In the last one month, we have been successful in placing our campaign and agenda in front of the people. And, the people also have listened to us carefully," said Rawat after casting his vote.

Dismissing any sign or talk of a Modi wave in the country, Rawat said, "They (BJP) will know on May 16 that their product has failed terribly. So, they will take their product back." "There is no Modi wave in the country. Here, the people have full confidence in Harish Rawat and the Congress Party," he added. Sixty-four Lok Sabha constituencies spread over seven states and 175 assembly constituencies in the Seemandhra region went to polls early in the morning amid tight security.

Today is the eighth and penultimate phase of the Lok Sabha elections. The Lok Sabha constituencies going to polls are 25 in Andhra Pradesh, 15 in Uttar Pradesh, seven in Bihar, six in West Bengal, five in Uttarakhand, four in Himachal Pradesh and two in Jammu and Kashmir. Prominent candidates in the fray are Congress Party vice president Rahul Gandhi, Union Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma, Union HRD Minister M.M. Pallam Raju, ex-Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif and television actress Smriti Irani.

Varun Gandhi, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Anurag Thakur, Ram Vilas Paswan, Rabri Devi and Kumar Vishwas are the other prominent leaders whose political future will be decided today. The Election Commission has reportedly taken several steps to ensure free and fair polling during the last two phases of the general elections.