"101 per cent sure about winning elections by a good margin": Nitin Gadkari

Nagpur: Exuding confidence over the outcome of the Nagpur Lok Sabha seat, BJP candidate and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Friday said that he is 101 per cent sure about winning the election from his constituency.
Nagpur Lok Sabha is witnessing a contest between Nitin Gadkari and Congress' Vikas Thakre, who is currently the Nagpur West MLA.
"We are celebrating the festival of democracy today. Everyone should vote, this is our fundamental right as well as duty. You can vote for anyone but casting your vote is important. I am 101% that I will win by a good margin," Gadkari told ANI.
He further appealed to voters to come early at the polling stations due to the high temperature in the city.
"We are celebrating the country's biggest festival with great enthusiasm. In Nagpur, I would especially appeal to the voters that the temperature is high here so they should come early and vote. Last time there was 54 per cent voting, this time our resolve is to take the voting percentage to 75 per cent. I will definitely win this election by a very big margin," he said after casting his vote.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Nitin Gadkari registered victory with a massive vote share of 55.7 per cent. He defeated the current Maharashtra Congress President, Nana Patole, with a victory margin of 2,16,009 votes. Gadkari also defeated Congress leader Vilas Muttemwar with a margin of 2,84,828 votes in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
Maharashtra has 48 Lok Sabha seats, the second-largest after Uttar Pradesh. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won 23 out of 25 seats it contested in alliance with the undivided Shiv Sena. Elections to the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra will be held in five phases on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13, and May 20.
Meanwhile, the world's largest democratic exercise kicked off in the country today, with the first phase of polling in 102 constituencies across 21 states and Union Territories.
This Lok Sabha election, to be conducted from April 19 to June 1, is set to be the second longest polling exercise in the country's electoral history after the first general election, which was held over five months between September 1951 and February 1952.
The last general elections in 2019 were also held in seven phases. Vote counting will be done on June 4.