As of 11 a.m. on Monday, 19.17% of eligible voters had cast ballots in Gujarat’s ongoing second round of state assembly elections.
Today’s voting started at 8 a.m. Up until 9 a.m., the voting percentage was 4.75 percent. Following Sabarkantha (22.18 percent) and Banaskantha (22.5%), Chhotaudepur has the greatest voter participation to date, according to the most recent information provided by the Election Commission (21.03 percent).
Gandhinagar, where turnout was highest with 7.05% up until 9 a.m., recorded a turnout of 20.39% up until 11 a.m.
The lowest turnout of the 14 districts holding elections was in Ahmedabad, where prominent figures including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel cast their ballots early in the voting period. As of 9 a.m., only 4.20 percent of eligible voters had cast ballots in Ahmedabad.
The second-lowest turnout, 17.06%, was recorded in Mahisagar as of 11 a.m.
In the midst of severe security measures, voting for the 93 Assembly constituencies spread across 14 districts in north and central Gujarat began at 8 a.m. on Monday for the second and final round of the Gujarat Assembly Elections.
In the second round of the Gujarat elections, 833 candidates representing 61 parties are running for office. More than 2.51 crore voters will decide who wins or loses.
Nearly 36,000 Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will be used, and the Election Commission has set up 26,409 polling places. In order to facilitate the polls, about 84,000 polling officers and about 29,000 presiding officers have been stationed in 14 districts.
Of the total 26,409 polling stations in Gujarat, 93 are model polling booths, 93 are eco-friendly booths, another 93 are handled by Divyang, and 14 are controlled by youth, according to Chief Electoral Officer P Bharathi. In the second phase, webcasting will take place in 13,319 polling booths.
“A total of 2,51,58,730 voters will vote, of which, 1,29,26,501 are men, 1,22,31,335 are women, and 894 are from the third gender,” Bharathi said.
The 93 poll-bound seats in the second phase are spread across Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Mehsana, Patan, Banaskantha, Sabarkantha, Aravali, Mahisagar, Panchmahal, Dahod, Vadodara, Anand, Kheda, and Chhota Udaipur districts.
PM Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Governor of Uttar Pradesh Anandiben Patel, Isudan Gadhvi, Gujarat Congress President Jagdish Thakor, and cricketers Irfan Pathan, Hardik Pandya, and Krunal Pandya are among the notable figures who will vote in Gujarat’s final round.
An overall turnout of 63.14 percent was recorded in Gujarat during the first round of voting on December 1. In 89 constituencies distributed across 19 districts in the Kutch, Saurashtra, and South Gujarat regions, voting got underway at 8 a.m. On December 1, the first round of voting for 89 seats in Kutch, Saurashtra, and South Gujarat came to a close with a 63.31 percent turnout overall.
On December 8, the votes will be tallied.