Team News Riveting
Ahmedabad, December 5
Despite Election Commission appeal to the urban voters to turn up and cast their votes in the second phase of elections in Gujarat, the state recorded a comparatively lower percentage of polling on Monday.
The poll panel said a voter turnout of 59.19 per cent was recorded till 5 pm on Monday across 93 seats in the second and final phase of the Assembly elections in Gujarat. The turnout in the first phase of the 2022 elections across 89 Assembly seats, where voting took place on December 1, was 63.31 per cent.
On average, the state is likely to report 63 to 65 per cent polling in the Assembly Elections 2022 in Gujarat, down from nearly 70 per cent polling registered in 2017.
Barring a few untoward incidents, the polling was peaceful in the 93 Assembly seats spread across 14 districts of north and central regions of Gujarat, where 833 candidates were in the fray.
The state administration received multiple complaints of malfunctioning of EVMs (electronic voting machines) and VVPATs (voter verifiable paper audit trails) from many places due to which voting at those booths was impacted.
Low voter turnout has put the political pundits in a fix to calculate to outcome. While a few suggested that it would go in ruling BJP’s favour, others said usually low polling reflected fatigue and apathy against the incumbent.
Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi also appealed to the urban voters. In a tweet, he said, “Cast my vote in Ahmedabad. Urging all those voting today to turnout in record numbers and vote.”
