Gujarat elections 2017: In turnout, South Gujarat beats Saurashtra hands down

In Saturday's polling, the South Gujarat region recorded more than 70% voter turnout, sharply higher than just a little over than 64% in Saurashtra, polling statistics released by the Gujarat Chief Electoral Officer, show.

The 35 seats in Narmada, Bharuch, Surat, Tapi, Dangs, Navsari and Valsad saw voting by 58.83 lakh out of 83.56 lakh eligible voters, a turnout of 70.40%.

In Saurashtra, which is divided into 48 assembly segments, 73.71 lakh out of 1.14 crore eligible voters exercised their right to vote. The turnout in the 11 districts of Saurashtra was 64.42%.

Kutch, the third geographical region which went to polls in the first phase on Saturday, saw 63.95% turnout with 9.13 lakh out of 14.28 lakh voters casting their votes.

The huge contrast in voter turnout in the different regions is also clearly visible in assembly-wise voter turnout.

An analysis of the statistics reveals that the all ten seats with the highest turnout were from south Gujarat. All of them, barring Vagra in Bharuch, are tribal reserved seats.

In contrast, eight of the ten constituencies with the lowest voter turnout were from Saurashtra. At 54.18%, the lowest turnout was reported in Gandhidham (SC) seat of Kutch, while Karanj in Surat recorded 55.77% voting.