Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state of Gujarat went to the polls on Saturday, in a key electoral test of his popularity after a series of controversial economic reforms. Voters, with their election cards in hand, started lining up at polling booths early in the morning in Gujarat where Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has held power for 22 years.
Modi built his reputation as an economic reformer in Gujarat which boomed under his rule, attracting investments from around the globe. But his recent reforms - a new national tax and a shock currency ban to fight graft - have hit India's growth and hurt the very constituency of traders and small business owners who were his biggest supporters in the western state, polls found.
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