30 per cent turnout in Gandhinagar civic poll till 1 PM

Voting on 32 seats of Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation today began at a slow pace and later gained momentum, as about 30 per cent voter turnout was registered till 1 PM, officials said.
According to Gandhinagar Collector Ravi Shankar, the highest voter turnout has been registered so far in ward no.1, which comprises several rural pockets.
"Voting has picked up gradually and touched 30 per cent mark till 1 PM. Ward no.1, having some rural areas in it, registered the highest turnout of almost 37 per cent till afternoon," Shankar said, adding no untoward incident took place during the voting.
Among those who exercised their franchise today included senior Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil and state BJP general secretary I K Jadeja.

A total 108 candidates are in fray for the polls on 32 seats of eight wards, and 202 polling booths have been set up for the polling.
In 2011, Congress had won the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation election with 18 seats out of 33, while 15 seats went to BJP.
However, later BJP came to power in the civic body after some Congress councillors switched over to the saffron party.