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Record turnout in first phase of Gujarat polls

With a record voter turnout of over 68%, the first phase of polling for the keenly-contested Gujarat Assembly polls on Thursday indicated the coming of age of the state’s voters.

With a record voter turnout of over 68%, the first phase of polling for the keenly-contested Gujarat Assembly polls on Thursday indicated the coming of age of the state’s voters.

Almost half of Gujarat exercised their franchise on Thursday for 87 of the total 182 Assembly seats to decide the fate of the 846 candidates in the fray. The voter turnout was 61.54% and 59.77% in 2002 and 2007, respectively.

Polling began at 8 am amid tight security and the turnout was a moderate 18% till 11 am. But in the following two hours, the turnout increased to 38%, and further to 53% by 3 pm. The final couple of hours saw brisk polling, which finally took the voter turnout to over 68%. Bharuch saw a voter turnout of 67.5%, Narmada 71.8%, Surat 64%, Tapi 76%, Navsari 72%, Dangs 66%, Valsad 67%, Junagadh 67%, Rajkot 68.8%, Amreli 65.6%, Porbandar 63.5%, Jamnagar 63%, Surendranagar 68%, Bhavnagar 68% and Ahmedabad rural 66.8 %.

Concerned over the slow pace of polling in the earlier part of the day, Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi had to urge people to come out and vote. The tech-savvy chief minister who used technology extensively for his election campaigning, including devices such as 3D holographic projection technology, SMSes, as well as social media like Facebook and Twitter, tweeted his request to voters in the afternoon. ?A vote is the foundation of a strong and vibrant democracy. I urge you all to exercise your franchise,? Modi wrote on the micro-blogging site. The Election Commission (EC) had also taken steps to promote awareness about the importance of voting among the people, especially in polling stations with a traditionally low voter turnout.

Political observers say while the large voter turnout may work in favour of the ruling BJP, the delimitation of Gujarat’s constituencies and former Gujarat chief minister Keshubhai Patel’s forming the Gujarat Parivartan Party (GPP) have made it difficult to predict the outcome. That?s largely because post-delimitation, the caste composition of some 60 seats has changed drastically so much that the 2002 and 2007 election experience cannot be applied to it. However, experts say there is no doubt that Modi is all set to do a hat trick by winning the election that too with a clear majority. Punters are pegging the number of seats to be bagged by the BJP to be between 105 and 120.

The polling took place in 48 constituencies in seven districts of Saurashtra, on 35 seats in five districts of southern Gujarat and on four in Ahmedabad District. The BJP had fielded candidates in all 87 seats, the Congress 84 candidates, Gujarat Parivartan Party 83 and the Bahujan Samaj Party 79. In addition, there were 130 candidates from other parties and 383 independent candidates.

Among the political heavyweights whose fate would has been decided by voters on Thursday include Keshubhai Patel, Assembly Speaker Ganpat Vasava, Gujarat BJP president RC Faldu, state Congress president Arjun Modhwadia and leader of the Opposition Shaktisinh Gohil. State ministers like Vajubhai Vala, Vasuben Trivedi, Narottam Patel, Mangubhai Patel, Purshottam Solanki, Kiritsinh Rana, Dilip Sanghani, Kanubhai Bhalala, Mohan Kundaria and Ranjit Gilitvala will also be awaiting their fate following the voting.

A total of 44, 579 polling stations have been set up. Moreover, it is for the first time that senior police officials from other states have been deployed by the EC as observers in all sensitive districts. Voting of the second phase will take place on December 17 for the remaining 95 seats and counting will be held on December 20.

Interestingly, the EC on Thursday slapped a notice on GPP president Keshubhai Patel for violating the model code of conduct while going to a polling booth with a pilot car.

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First published on: 14-12-2012 at 02:55 IST
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