Steady, peaceful polling recorded in Gujarat

Voters in the Lok Sabha constituencies of Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad East, and Ahmedabad West braved the heat to perform their democratic duty on Tuesday. The highest turnout was noted in the Ghatlodia assembly segment of the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency. Here BJP president Amit Shah faces Congress party’s C J Chavda. Gandhinagar registered 64.95% voting, but the turnout was higher in Ghatlodia, at 68.95%.


In western Ahmedabad, people thronged polling booths in the morning, many in gym wear. “We decided to vote before the sun became harsh,” said Nidhi Patel, a resident of Prahladnagar, part of the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency.

The Ahmedabad West constituency recorded 59.82% voting by the end of the day. In the Walled City, where people are usually enthusiastic about voting, the Jamalpur-Khadia assembly segment clocked only 56.81% voting. In the Dariapur segment, the figure was 58.50%. Ahmedabad East constituency’s voting percentage (60.77) was lower than the state’s average of 63.71%.

There was heavy police and paramilitary deployment in Bapunagar, which was convulsed by violence during the Patidar quota stir in 2015. Prabha Patel, the mother of Shwetang Patel who died in police custody that year, said that she let her conscience decide her vote.

Serpentine queues, a characteristic of high turnout, were not evident in the city. Voting remained peaceful and

steady

throughout the day.

Most complaints received by the Election Commission came from the city of Ahmedabad — 11 of 43 from across the state. They included a complaint against a party for putting up banners and flags right next to a government building in Bodakdev. In another complaint, a few voters in Vejalpur accused polling officials of insisting on quick voting.

Meanwhile, Vejalpur police received two complaints regarding snatching of stationery from booth-level officers at New Navrang School and Faruq-e-Azam School in Juhapura.

The three Lok Sabha constituencies made the headlines because of the big names that came to cast their votes. They included PM Narendra Modi; BJP chief and its candidate from Gandhinagar Amit Shah; veteran BJP leader and former deputy PM L K Advani; and Union finance minister Arun Jaitley.