Gujarat: 71.27% voting in Jasdan bypolls

As much as 71.27 per cent voting was registered during the by-election for Jasdan Assembly constituency in Gujarat’s Rajkot district on Thursday, poll officials said. 

Barring several cases of heated arguments, no unwanted incident was reported during the polling which got over at 5 pm.

Polling began at 8:00 am across 262 polling booths. The voters turnout remained constant with an average of 15 per cent in each slots of two hours. Out of 2.32 lakh voters, 1.65 lakh voters exercised their franchise to vote. As many as 90,199 male electors and 75,219 female electors caste their votes in Jasdan. Total polling percentage was recorded at 73.44 per cent on the same seat in the general assembly polls held last year.

The by-poll became a battle of prestige between the ruling BJP and opposition Congress in the wake of the Congress winning Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

The election became necessary after Bavaliya, an influential Koli community leader who had won the seat on Congress ticket in 2017, joined the BJP and resigned as MLA on July 2 and was made a cabinet minister in the BJP government in the state on the same day.

He has to get elected back to the Assembly within six months to continue as minister. The counting will be held on December 23.