10% polling in first two hours of Gujarat election

DAINIK NATION BUREAU

The first few hours of polling in the final phase of the Gujarat elections has witnessed very few voters due to variation in the temperature. As per the EC only 10 percent voting was recorded in two hours, an official said, adding that the process would pick up as the day progressed.

There were several complalints made to the Election Commission against the electronic voting machines in and around Vadodara city. At many places, the polling was halted due to such malfunctioning.

Over two crore voters will choose from 851 candidates who are in the fray in this last phase of polling that began in 93 assembly constituencies across 14 districts at 8 am and will continue till 5 pm.

There were reports of skirmish in Dhanera town in Banaskantha, where a poll official was attacked by a group, police said.

Many bigwigs, including union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, state Congress chief Bharat singh Solanki and Patidar leader Hardik Patel have franchised their vote.

Jaitley cast his vote in Ahmedabad; Nitin Patel cast his vote from the Kadi region; Solanki reached his native Mendarda village in Borsad to cast his vote and Hardik Patel cast his vote in Viramgam.

At many places in urban areas, people themselves were seen creating awareness and urging members of housing societies to come out and vote.

Although the weather has turned chillier than it was in the first phase on December 9, when Gujarat recorded over 60 per cent polling, it is presumed that after the day warmed up then more voters would come out for poll.