Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani on Thursday expressed confidence of the BJP getting a 'comfortable mandate' in today's assembly poll in Gujarat 'despite a poll campaign that saw unprecedented viciousness'.

"I have never witnessed such a campaign during the last 20-22 years since the BJP was formed or in the 50 years of the Jan Sangh's existence. Despite this, if the people give another mandate to the BJP, it will be comparable to the one in 1977 when Jayaprakash Narayan and opposition parties were under attack," he told reporters in Ahmedabad.

"Another mandate for the BJP would mean that people in a democracy understand what was wrong and what was right," he said after casting his vote at the Bhardiavas Municipal School in Shahpur constituency.

Caretaker Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who was among the early voters in Sarkhej constituency in Ahmedabad, described the poll as loktantra ka mahaparv (big festival of democracy).

He said the people of the state would give a 'fitting reply' in the polls to those who had launched a malicious campaign to defame Gujarat.

BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley said the election would witness unprecedented polling as people had come out in large numbers to exercise their franchise in the initial hours.

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