The final voter turnout in the first phase of the Gujarat elections for 89 seats held on 9 December stood at 66.75 percent, the Election Commission said on Sunday.
Voters queued up in large numbers amid rising complaints of malfunctioning Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). The Election Commission also received complaints of EVMs being connected to Bluetooth or WiFi from various regions.
A total of 977 candidates are in fray in the first phase for 89 seats in the Saurashtra and south Gujarat regions. The election is being viewed as a prestige battle for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a litmus test for the leadership of soon-to-be Congress chief Rahul Gandhi.
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- Voting for the first phase of Gujarat Assembly elections ended at 5 pm on Saturday, 9 December
- Faulty EVMs were reported across several polling booths
Chief Electoral Officer BB Swain, orders probe, says around 45 EVMs have been replaced - 68 percent voter turnout was recorded as polling ended at 5:00 pm
- A total of 977 candidates are in the fray for 89 seats
66.75% Voters Cast Their Ballot In Phase 1
The final voter turnout in the first phase of the Gujarat elections for 89 seats held on 9 December stood at 66.75 percent, the Election Commission said on Sunday.
The poll panel had earlier declared an estimated 68 percent voter turnout.
In the 2012 elections, 71.32 per cent voter turnout was recorded in Gujarat for all the 182 seats.
Out of 2.12 crore voters in the regions, 1.41 crore exercised their franchise in the 89 seats in 19 districts, according to a release issued by the office of the Chief Electoral Officer for Gujarat.
Thank You For Voting: Narendra Modi
PM Narendra Modi thanked the people of Gujarat for turning up for the elections, and casting their votes.
Gajadi Village in Morbi Boycotts Elections Over Water Woes
Zero voting was recorded at Gajadi village in Morbi district of Gujarat today as the locals, fed up with water shortage, boycotted polling.
The village, though situated in Tankara tehsil of Morbi, comes under Kalavad constituency of Jamnagar district.
The district administration said they tried their best to persuade villagers to vote.
"Villagers had announced a few months ago that they will refrain from voting. Their main grievance was about water supply. Though the village is being supplied water through a pipeline, they claimed it was not enough and demanded another pipeline," said Morbi Collector and District Election Officer I K Patel.
"Even today senior officials went to the village and urged them to cast vote. But no one turned up at the polling booth," he added.
"When we told them there are plans to lay a new pipeline, villagers asked us to give the assurance on paper.
As the model code of conduct was in place, it was not possible to give it in writing. Such an assurance on the day of polling would also set a wrong precedent," the Collector added.
Higest Turnout Recorded at Morbi and Navsari
The highest voter turnout was recorded in Morbi and Navsari at 75%. The lowest voter turnout was in Botad at 60%.