Gujarat Elections 2017: Voting interrupted in Rajkot, Surat and Rajpipla as EVMs malfunction
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged the voters, particularly the youngsters, to cast their votes in the first phase of Gujarat assembly elections.
Voting for the first phase of the crucial Gujarat assembly polls began on Saturday on 89 seats of Saurashtra and South Gujarat regions.
After a campaign that often turned vituperative, around 2.12 crore voters would be exercising their franchise in Modi's home state to choose between the ruling BJP and the Congress.
However, voting has been interrupted in several places due to technical glitches in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
In Rajkot, a technical issue was reported in around 33 EVMs due to which voting was stopped for a while.
in Surat, 24 EVMs are reportedly not working. The process of changing the machines is underway.
In Rajpipla, voting has stopped due to issues in 141 EVMs. Whereas voters are waiting for their turn in Amreli's Vadli village due to a glitch in EVM Machines.
A total of 977 candidates are in the fray for the first phase polls. Prominent candidates for today's battle include Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, who is contesting from Rajkot (West), and Congress' Shaktisinh Gohil (Mandvi) and Paresh Dhanani (Amreli).
The election is viewed as a prestige battle for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a litmus test for the leadership of soon-to-be Congress chief Rahul Gandhi.