Dynamite News Gujarat Election 2017 : 47.28% voting till 4pm in first phase
Around 47.28 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 4 pm during polling on 89 seats of Saurashtra and South Gujarat regions in the first phase of the crucial Gujarat assembly polls.
Ahmedabad: Around 47.28% per cent voter turnout was recorded till 4 pm during polling on 89 seats of Saurashtra and South Gujarat regions in the first phase of the crucial Gujarat assembly polls.
After the polling process began at 8 am, people could be seen stepping out of their homes despite cold weather and queuing up to exercise their franchise at the polling stations.
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According to officials, around 35.52 per cent voting has been recorded till 2 pm. Although there were reports of technical glitches in EVMs in Surat and some other centres, the polling process resumed after the machines were replaced, officials of the Election Commission said.
In the first two hours, several important leaders and candidates cast their votes, including Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, his opponent on Rajkot-West seat Indranil Rajyaguru, senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel, Gujarat BJP chief Jitu Vaghani and Congress MLA of Amreli seat Paresh Dhanan, among others.
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Cricketer Cheteshwar Pujara also cast his vote in Rajkot.
A total of 89 seats out of 182 -- spanning the Saurashtra and south Gujarat regions -- are up for grabs in the first phase with 977 candidates in the fray.