Gujarat Polls: Voter turnout at 50.51 pc till 3 pm in second phase elections

The voting began at 8 am today. The voting percentage was recorded at 34.74 per cent till 1 pm.

According to the State Election Commission, Sabarkantha recorded the highest voter turnout of 57.23 per cent in the polling, while Ahmedabad recorded the lowest voter turnout of 44.67 per cent.

Meanwhile in Gandhinagar, where the top leaders of the BJP including PM Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel cast their votes, witnessed 52.05 per cent.

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, Divyang and 14 manage another 93 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.

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. (ANI)