South Gujarat and Saurashtra went to polls in the first round of voting which saw many key electoral battles. The second phase of voting will be held on December 14.
GANDHINAGAR — Sixty eight per cent tentative voting was registered in Gujarat in the first phase, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Gujarat, B.B. Swain said on Saturday, while complaints about malfunctioning Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) continued to come in.
South Gujarat and Saurashtra went to polls in the first round of voting which saw many key electoral battles. The second phase of voting will be held on December 14.
Morbi and Navsari reported the highest polling percentage of 75 per cent each while Porbandar and Botad reported 60 per cent voting till 5 pm.
Villagers of Limdi village in Surendranagar district have boycotted the elections over their various grievances.
In Surat, in many of the Patidar dominated areas, posters emerged with photographs of the dead Patidar youth, killed during and after the Patidar agitation on the GMDC ground on August 25, 2015, reading “Don’t forget the sacrifice of these martyrs and uproot the BJP”.
Malfunctioning of EVM machines was reported in Sattapar village in Anjar constituency and the polling process had to be halted.
Reacting to allegations by senior Congress leader about EVMs linked to Bluetooth devices in Porbandar, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Gujarat, B.B. Swain said: “We received the complaint with screenshots about the linkage of EVM with WiFi or Bluetooth devices. So we rushed the collector, Porbandar, and our observers from the Election Commission of India (ECI) to the place. Their scrutiny says that there was no merit in the complaint by Arjun Modhwadia.”
The reasons for the high turnout can be attributed to the intense drive carried out by the ECI, though both the political parties — ruling BJP and Congress – claim the massive public support for their party is the reason for the high turnout. — Agencies
