Around 54 per cent turnout in Surat West bypoll

An estimated 54 per cent polling was registered today in the by-election held for Surat (West) Assembly constituency, a top Election Commission officer said.
"Close to 54.16 per cent votes were polled. No untoward incident was reported," Gujarat Chief Electoral Officer Anita Karwal told reporters.
Surat Collector Jayprakash Shivhare said three EVMs developed a glitch initially when the voting began in the morning but they were promptly replaced by the authorities.
No untoward incident was reported from any polling booths, he said, adding voting was largely peaceful.
As per the Supreme Court guidelines, EVMs had a None-of-the-above (NOTA) option for voters.

BJP's city unit president Purnesh Modi and Congress candidate D L Patel are in the fray for the seat which has traditionally been a BJP stronghold.

The bypoll was necessitated following the death of sitting BJP MLA Kishore Vankawala this June.
The campaigning largely remained a low-key affair as no national leader from both the parties participated in it.
The constituency has over two lakh eligible voters.
The Election commission had declared 37 out of 201 polling booths in the constituency as sensitive.
The counting of votes will take place on December 8.
The state's ruling BJP has 119 MLAs in the 182-member House.