Around 50 per cent voting was recorded by late afternoon on Saturday for the first phase of Gujarat Assembly polls, while complaints about malfunctioning Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) continued to come in.
The voter turnout this time is unprecedented and there is even speculation that it might surpass the 90 per cent mark.
At 3 p.m., the voting percentage was around 50 per cent.
The poll percentage at 2 p.m. was: in Valsad-48, Kaprada-42, Tankara-54, Morbi-49, Botad-45, Gadhda-39, Umargaon-45, Vankaner-53, Jamnagar overall-40, Jam Jodhpur-40, Surat-44, Dang-25-30, Porbandar-38 to 44, Jamnagar- 36 to 40, Surendranagar- 50 to 55. Navsari too registered more than 50 per cent voting.
Surprisingly, Rajkot which is known for its 'siesta time' from 1 to 4 in the afternoon, registered around 40-45 per cent voting with people seen queuing up in the afternoon to vote. Rajkot's Visavadar saw their voter, former Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel, exercise his rights coming all the way from his residence in Gandhinagar.
Villagers of Limdi village in Surendranagar district have boycotted the elections over their various grievances.
In Surat, in many of the Patidar dominated areas, posters emerged with photographs of the dead Patidar youth, killed during and after the Patidar agitation on the GMDC ground on August 25, 2015, reading "Don't forget the sacrifice of these martyrs and uproot the BJP".
Malfunctioning of EVM machines was reported in Sattapar village in Anjar constituency and the polling process had to be halted.
Of the 2,12,31,652 voters, 1,11,05,933 are males and 1,01,25,472 females while 247 are from the third gender. The second phase polling is on December 14 and counting, along with that of Himachal Pradesh, will be held on December 18.
 "Gujarat elections LIVE: 68% voter turnout in phase 1, says EC")
