Gujarat Assembly Elections: Voting largely peaceful in 89 seats in first phase barring minor incidents and reports of problems in EVMs
Ahmedabad, December 1
Voting ended for the first phase of the Gujarat Assembly elections in 89 seats across 19 districts of Saurashtra-Kutch and southern regions at 5 pm on Thursday.
While the final voting figures were awaited, 48.48 per cent turn-out was recorded till 3 pm, the Election Commission said.
Barring a few minor incidents and some reports of problems in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), the voting process, which commenced at 8 am, remained largely peaceful.
The second phase of elections will be held on December 5 and results will be announced on December 8.
The voting was held across 14,382 polling stations, of which 3,311 were in the urban and 11,071 in rural areas, the office of the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said.
Live webcasting was done from 13,065 polling stations to keep a close eye on the process, it said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has ruled Gujarat for 27 years, is trying to retain power in the state for the seventh term in a row.
