LIVE | Phase 3 of Lok Sabha polls records 61.78% voter turnout
24.35% voter turnout recorded till 11 am in polls to 25 LS seats in Gujarat
A voter turnout of 24.35 per cent was recorded in the first four hours of polling in 25 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat in the third phase of the general election on Tuesday, an official from the Election Commission (EC) said. As many as 265 candidates are in the fray for 25 out of 26 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
The BJP bagged the Surat seat unopposed after eight out of nine eligible candidates withdrew their nomination forms. BJP candidate Mukesh Dalal was declared the winner.
"An average 24.35 per cent voter turnout was recorded in the first four hours of polling, which began at 7 am," the official said.
As per the data shared by the EC, the Banaskantha constituency in north Gujarat recorded the highest turnout of 30.27 per cent, while the Porbandar seat in the Saurashtra region saw the lowest turnout of 19.83 per cent between 7 am and 11 am.
Voters turned up in large numbers at polling booths in the early hours, as long serpentine queues could be seen outside several booths.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and Chief Electoral Officer for Gujarat, P Bharathi were among the early voters.
While PM Modi cast his vote at Nishan School in the Ranip area of the city, Shah exercised his franchise at a polling booth in the Naranpura area, both of which fall under the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat from where Shah has been renominated.
According to poll officials, the state has 4.97 crore voters, including 2.56 crore males, 2.41 crore females and 1,534 persons from the third gender.
Of the 50,788 polling booths, 17,275 are in the urban areas and 33,513 in rural parts of the state, they said.
In Gujarat, Union Home Minister Amit Shah is in the fray from Gandhinagar, while his cabinet colleagues Mansukh Mandaviya and Parshottam Rupala are contesting from Porbandar and Rajkot seats, respectively.
Voting is also being held for the bypolls for five state assembly seats of Khambhat, Vijapur, Waghodia, Porbandar, and Manavadar.
The Congress is fighting the Lok Sabha polls in alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), hoping to prevent a division of opposition votes to stop the BJP from repeating its winning streak of 2014 and 2019.
As part of the alliance, the Congress, which has fielded four sitting and eight former MLAs, got 24 seats (including Surat), while the AAP has been given Bhavnagar and Bharuch.
Chhattisgarh: 29.90% turnout recorded in 7 LS seats till 11 am
A voter turnout of 29.90 per cent was recorded in the first four hours of polling in seven of the 11 Lok Sabha constituencies in Chhattisgarh where polling was underway in the third and last phase of the general elections in the state on Tuesday, a poll official said.
Polling is being held in Raipur, Durg, Bilaspur, Korba, Janjgir-Champa (reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates), Surguja (reserved for Scheduled Tribe candidates) and Raigarh (ST) seats.
"Polling in the seven Lok Sabha constituencies started at 7 am, and a voter turnout of 29.90 per cent has been registered till 11 am. Polling is underway smoothly and peacefully," the official said.
Long queues of voters were seen at polling booths in some seats.
Chhattisgarh's Deputy Chief Minister Arun Sao, who exercised his franchise at a polling booth in Bilaspur, was among the early voters.
Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan and his wife cast their votes in Civil Lines Raipur.
Talking to reporters, the governor appealed to voters to exercise their franchise to elect the government of their choice.
"Voting right is the most valuable right of a citizen, and my appeal to all people is that they must vote to elect the government of their choice. Nobody should refrain from coming to the polling booth and voting," he said.
State Minister OP Choudhary cast his vote in Raigarh district, while Congress candidate from Surguja seat Shashi Singh inked his finger at Shivpur village in Surajpur district.
State Chief Secretary Amitabh Jain and his wife cast their votes in Devndra Nagar officers colony here, the state's Chief Electoral Officer Reena Babasaheb Kangale voted at the Dharampura polling booth, and Additional Chief Electoral Officer Nilesh Kshirsagar at Amlidih polling booth in Raipur.
Residents of Dhumadand village in Koriya under the Korba Lok Sabha seat have boycotted the elections, citing the lack of a road.
According to officials, security has been beefed up in the state with the deployment of 202 companies of the Central forces and more than 60,000 personnel of the police and District Reserve Guard.
Altogether, 168 candidates, including 26 women, are in the fray in the third and final phase of elections in the state.
The main contest is between the BJP, which won 10 out of the total 11 seats in the three general elections after 2004, and the Congress.
In the 2019 polls, the BJP bagged nine seats, and the Congress got two seats.
A total of 1,39,01,285 persons, including 69,33,121 men, 69,67,544 women and 620 members of the third gender, are eligible to exercise their franchise in the third phase.
Raipur has the maximum number of 38 candidates in the fray, followed by 37 in Bilaspur, 27 in Korba, 25 in Durg, 18 in Janjgir-Champa, 13 in Raigarh, and 10 in Surguja.