68% Voter Turnout Seen In First Phase Of Polling In Gujarat

The first phase of polling for the Gujarat Assembly elections ended at 5 pm today, with a total voter turnout of 68 percent, according to data from the Election Commission’s website.

As many as 977 candidates were in the fray to get elected from 89 of the total 182 constituencies in the state. The seats are spread out over 19 districts of Kutch, Saurashtra and South Gujarat. Prominent candidates in today's battle included Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, Congress's Shaktisinh Gohil (Mandvi) and Paresh Dhanani (Amreli).

A total turn out of 71.32 percent was recorded in the previous election to the 182-member Assembly.

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Reports of technical glitches and malfunctioning of electronic voting machines surfaced in Surat and some other cities, wire agency PTI reported.

The second phase of polling will be held on Dec. 14 when voters in key cities such as Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar and Vadodara will exercise their franchise.

The election is being viewed as a prestige battle for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a litmus test for the soon-to-be Congress chief Rahul Gandhi.

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Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi today accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of changing the agenda of the Gujarat elections as he was getting exposed on one issue after another.

At a rally in Harij in Patan district, Gandhi said Modi raised the issue of suspended Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's remark about him as the PM had got exposed on other issues like the Narmada water, other backward castes (OBC) and development in 22 years of the BJP rule in the state.

"It is very interesting to see how the truth catches up with the people. Modiji started saying he will contest the election on the issue of Narmada water. It came to notice that the river water did not reach villages and went to the Tata Nano factory," he claimed.

"After 2-3 days he said he will contest election on the issue of OBCs. Even that did not work," Gandhi added.

Over 45 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 4 pm in the 89 seats Gujarat Assembly seats that went to polls today.

Gujarat BJP chief and himself a Patidar, Jitu Vaghani said Rahul Gandhi will fail miserably in his first test as the Congress's "de facto chief" because he and Patel quota agitation leader Hardik Patel are "cheating hardworking and decent people".

During the first phase of voting 1.90 percent of VVPATs replaced out of 24,689 units deployed.

Over 30 per cent voter turnout was recorded today in 89 seats in the first phase of assembly polls in Gujarat, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress' heir-apparent Rahul Gandhi are locked in a bitter, high-stakes political duel after a 22-year reign of the BJP.

There were reports of technical glitches in electronic voting machines (EVMs) in Surat and some other centres, but the polling process resumed after the machines were replaced, Election Commission officials said.

Chief Election Officer B B Swain said an inquiry was ordered after Congress leader Arjun Modhwadia complained of possible EVM tampering at three polling booths in a Muslim- dominated area in Porbandar. Modhwadia claimed that some machines were found to be connecting to external devices via bluetooth.

As per the latest data released by the Election Commission, 30.31 percent voters exercised their franchise between 8 am and 12 pm. Voting will end at 5 pm.

The highest turnout of 38.07 percent was recorded in the tribal-dominated district of Tapi, while Narmada, another tribal-dominated district in south Gujarat, recorded the lowest turnout of 25.67 percent.

Voters are turning up in large numbers to exercise their franchisee, with 21 percent of the eligible voters already casting their vote by 12 noon.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley who is also one of the key BJP workers entrusted with the task of managing the party’s campaign in Gujarat, has predicted a landslide win the state.

BJP has been in power in the state for 22 years now, but pollsters expect it to be a close fight, with the ruling party having a slight edge over the others.

Nearly 10 percent of the registered voters have already cast their votes in Gujarat, according to news agency ANI.

397 out of the 1,828 candidates contesting in Gujarat are crorepatis, or have wealth of more than Rs 1 crore, according to a study done by two NGOs.

Congress’ Arjun Modhwadia has lodged a complaint with the Election Commission stating EVMs at Porbandar’s Sharda Mandir booth numbers 145, 146 and 147 have been rigged using Bluetooth.

Modhwadia is up against BJP’s Babu Bokhiria for the third time in Porbandar.

A couple in Bharuch’s Bahumali constituency arrived dressed in their wedding attire to cast their vote, before heading to get married.

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has cast his vote in Rajkot. He is one of the contestants in the Rajkot (West) constituency.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, tweeted about the polls, urging voters to exercise their franchisee and go out and vote.

It’s the first phase of polling in Gujarat. 89 assembly constituencies in Saurashtra and south Gujarat go to polls from 8 am to 5 pm. At stake is the fate of 977 candidates, which will be decided by 2.12 crore eligible voters. Chief Minister Vijay Rupani’s constituency in Rajkot West also goes to polls.

It is a prestige battle for the Bharatiya Janata Party which is trying to defend its 22-year reign in the state, and the first time after Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister. A lot’s at stake for the Congress as well, with its President-in-waiting Rahul Gandhi leading the campaign in the state.

Three young leaders Hardik Patel, Alpesh Thakor and Jignesh Mevani have emerged as some of the prominent opposition leaders to the BJP.

The Bharatiya Janata Party released its election manifesto less than 24 hours before the first phase of polling began. This time the focus is on “doubling” farmers’ income.

Pollsters, political pundits and analysts are largely predicting a win for the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party in Gujarat, with the rider that it is turning out to be a closer fight than expected.

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