42% cast vote, polls pass off peacefully

An estimated 42 per cent of the 3.34 core electorate exercised their franchise in the 26 Lok Sabha constituencies of the state on Tuesday.

Barring a few stray incidents of violence, polling passed off peacefully in the state. There are 162 candidates in the fray.

Polling began on a dull note and just up to eight per cent votes were polled in the first couple of hours of voting across the state. Until around 3 pm, the overall voting percentage across the state did not exceed 30 per cent.

J P Jadeja, consultant to the Election Commission, said while the exact polling percentage is being worked out, about 42 per cent of the eligible voters have exercised their franchise.

Sporadic incidents of violence were reported from some parts of the state. Congress candidate from Mehsana in north Gujarat, Jivabhai Patel, was injured in a scuffle with alleged BJP supporters.

Patel was rushed to a hospital and released after medication.

In another incident in Anand in central Gujarat, members of two communities indulged in minor stone-pelting outside a polling booth in Borsad town. The situation in the town, which falls under the Anand constituency, was tense following reports of bogus voting, police said.

However, no one was injured in the incident. Police rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control, police said.

Although the complete polling figures for Ahmedabad parliamentary seat were not available until late on Tuesday evening, district collector and election officer Anita Karwal said 33.24 per cent of the electorate had exercised their franchise until 3 pm.

"The election was completely incident-free in Ahmedabad. The authorities kept a close watch," the collector said.

In Jamnagar, election officials said the voting per cent was around 41 per cent. The BJP-dominated Kalawad area of the constituency experienced a low voter turnout. Better voter turnout was reported from Jodiya, Jamnagar city, Jamnagar rural, Khambaliya, Swarka and Bhanwad segments.

The polling in the constituency was peaceful, authorities said. The Surat parliamentary constituency recorded one of the lowest voter turnouts in the state, recording only 32 per cent, election officials said. The turnout was even lower in Surat city, while it was better in the rural and the coastal areas, where the Congress has an edge.

Until 3 pm, the turnout was 28 per cent, which grew to 32 per cent by the end of the polling.

BJP leaders, who had made several speeches during the campaigning, asking people to vote without fail, sought to downplay the incident, stating that it will not affect the party in the state.

"I do not believe that the low voter turnout will impact the party. We will bag more seats this time," said BJP spokesperson Arun Jaitley. The BJP had won 21 seats in the last parliamentary election.

The leaders who sought mandate on Tuesday include Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani (Gandhinagar), Union rural development minister Kashiram Rana (Surat), Congress stalwart Shankersinh Vaghela (Kapadvanj) and party leader Satyajit Gaekwad (Vadodara).

Some other important BJP candidates include Union minister of state for defence Harin Pathak, who contested from Ahmedabad, Union minister of state for tourism Bhavna Chikhliya and Union minister of state for heavy industries Vallabh Kathiria.

The other Congress leaders include Bharatsinh Solanki (son of former external affairs minister Madhavsinh Solanki), Tushar Chaudhary, (son of former chief minister Amarsinh Chaudhary), Dinsha Patel, Madhusudan Mistry and Vitthal Radadiya.

The contest in Gandhinagar took an interesting turn with the entry of Vitthalbhai Pandya, father of slain leader Haren Pandya.

The hot weather in the state had a role in lowering voter turnout. People preferred to keep away from polling booths during most part of the day. Brisk polling was observed during the first few hours and then for a couple of hours before polling ended at 5 pm.