Voting began at a brisk pace at 7:00 am in polling booths in all 26 seats in the home state of prime minister Narendra Modi.
More than 39% voter turnout was recorded in the 26 Lok Sabha seats of Gujarat till 1:00 pm, the election authorities said. Voting was by and large smooth with some complaints of EVM malfunctioning.
Voting began at a brisk pace at 7:00 am in polling booths in all 26 seats in the home state of prime minister Narendra Modi, who himself cast his vote in a school in Ranip locality of Ahmedabad at 8:30 am.
Modi, who met his mother Hiraba at his brother Pankaj Modi's residence in Gandhinagar prior to voting, appealed voters to come out in large numbers to vote, and said that power of the Voter ID is much more than the IED of terrorists.
The average turnout was in excess of 10% in the first two hours, and touched 24.87% by the end of the fourth hour at 11:00 am. Figures provided by the Chief Electoral Officer's office showed that 39.27% of voters had exercised their right to vote till 1:00 pm.
Besides Modi, BJP president Amit Shah, who is contesting from Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat, cast his vote in Ahmedabad. Senior BJP leader LK Advani, finance minister Arun Jaitley and Madhya Pradesh governor Anandiben Patel also voted in Ahmedabad.
The CEO figures show that the highest turnout till 1:00 pm was recorded in Dahod ST seat with 46.78%, while the lowest was in Porbandar at 30.97%.
Ahmedabad East and Ahmedabad West SC seats recorded 38.64% and 35.57% turnout respectively, while Gandhinagar seat saw 39.03% voting.
Chief minister Vijay Rupani cast his vote in Rajkot, and deputy chief minister Nitin Patel in Mehsana.
Among Congress leaders, state party president Amit Chavda voted in Anand district, and leader of opposition Paresh Dhanani in Amreli. Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel cast his vote in Bharuch, Shaktisinh Gohil in Gandhinagar, and Arjun Modhwadia in Porbandar.
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