The first phase of voting for 89 seats in Saurashtra, Kutch and south Gujarat was held on December 1 with average turnout of 63.31 per cent.
After a relatively low voter turnout in the first phase of Gujarat Assembly elections held on December 1, the Election Commission urged voters to come out in large numbers to vote in the second phase on December 5 and compensate for the earlier phase.
“Urban apathy continues unabated from Shimla to Surat. ECI appeals to voters of Gujarat to come out in large numbers during second phase to compensate for low voting in 1st phase,” the ECI said in a statement.
"While voting percentage increased in many constituencies, the average voter turnout figure is dampened by urban apathy of these important districts just as during recently concluded general election to the legislative assembly of Himachal Pradesh, urban Assembly Constituency of Shimla recorded the lowest at 62.53 per cent (less by 13 percentage points) as against the state average of 75.6 per cent," it said.
The first phase of voting for 89 seats in Saurashtra, Kutch and south Gujarat was held on December 1 with average turnout of 63.31 per cent. This was nearly 3.5 per cent less than the voter turnout in the first phase polling of 2017 Gujarat Assembly polls and 9 per cent less than the 2012 elections.
Dediapada in Narmada district recorded the highest 82.71 per cent voting, followed by Kaprada in Valsad district which had a turnout of 79.57 per cent.
Gandhidham seat in Kutch district recorded the lowest turnout of 47.86 per cent. Fourteen constituencies recorded more than 70 per cent voting.
District-wise, tribal-dominated Narmada district recorded the highest average turnout of 78.24 per cent, followed by Tapi with 76.91 per cent.
Navsari district recorded average 71.06 per cent voting, the EC said. Botad district recorded the lowest average voter turnout of 57.58 per cent. Amreli followed closely with 57.59 per cent turnout. Surat district recorded 62.27 per cent voting and Rajkot 60.45 per cent.
In the 2017 election, of the same 89 seats which went to polls in the first phase, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had won 48, Congress 40, while one seat was bagged by an independent.
The BJP, which has ruled the state for 27 years, is seeking to win a straight seventh term. If it succeeds, it will equal the record of the Left Front government which had ruled in West Bengal for seven consecutive terms till 2011. Besides its traditional foe the Congress, the BJP this time is facing a new adversary in the form of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which campaigned aggressively.
Besides, 36 other parties including the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Samajwadi Party (SP), Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) are also in the fray.
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