Guj polls : Voter turnout at 19.17%, Ahmedabad lowest with 16.95%

GANDHINAGAR: Gujarat witnessed a voter turnout of 19.17 per cent till 11 am in the ongoing second phase of the state Assembly elections on Monday. The voting began at 8 am today. The voting percentage was at 4.75 per cent till 9 am.

According to the latest data shared by the Election Commission, Chhotaudepur recorded the highest voter turnout till this time with 23.35 per cent polling, followed by Sabarkantha (22.18 pc), and Banaskantha (21.03 pc).

Gandhinagar which witnessed the highest percentage with 7.05 per cent till 9 am, saw a turnout of 20.39 per cent till 11 am.

Ahmedabad, where top leaders like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel cast their votes in the early hours of polling, saw the lowest turnout out of all the 14 districts where elections are underway, with a turnout of 16.95 per cent so far as against 4.20 per cent till 9 am.

Mahisagar witnessed the second lowest turnout till 11 am with 17.06 per cent polling. Polling for the second and final phase of the Gujarat Assembly Elections for 93 Assembly constituencies across 14 districts of north and central Gujarat began at 8 am amid tight security arrangements on Monday.

As many as 833 candidates from 61 parties are in the fray in the second phase of the Gujarat elections whose fate will be decided by over 2.51 crore electorates.

The Election Commission has established 26,409 polling booths and nearly 36,000 Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will be used for the purpose. Around 29,000 presiding officers and over 84,000 polling officers have been deployed in 14 districts to facilitate the polls.

According to Gujarat's Chief Electoral Officer P Bharathi, of the total 26,409 polling stations, 93 are model polling booths, 93 are eco-friendly booths, another 93 are managed by Divyang and 14 are managed by youth. Webcasting will be done in 13,319 polling booths in the second phase.

"Total of 2,51,58,730 voters will vote, of which, 1,29,26,501 are men, 1,22,31,335 are women and 894 are from the third gender," Bharathi said. The 93 poll-bound seats in the second phase are spread across Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Mehsana, Patan, Banaskantha, Sabarkantha, Aravali, Mahisagar, Panchmahal, Dahod, Vadodara, Anand, Kheda and Chhota Udaipur districts.

Among prominent names who will cast their votes in the final phase in Gujarat are PM Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel, Isudan Gadhvi, Gujarat Congress president Jagdish Thakor and cricketers Irfan Pathan, Hardik Pandya and Krunal Pandya.

During the first phase of polling on December 1, Gujarat saw an overall turnout of 63.14 per cent. The voting began at 8 am in 89 constituencies spread across 19 districts of Kutch, Saurashtra and South Gujarat regions. The first phase of voting for 89 seats in Kutch, Saurashtra and South Gujarat ended on December 1, with an overall turnout of 63.31 per cent. The counting of votes will be done on December 8.