IANS/Ahmedabad
Amid widespread complaints of deletion of names from voters’ lists, polling took place yesterday for the first phase of the two-tiered elections to local self-government bodies in Gujarat, with around 47% of the electorate turning out to cast their ballot.
Voting began on a lazy note at 8am at around 13,000 polling stations in the state.
Secured by police and paramilitary personnel, the turnout limped to just over 15% by afternoon, leaving political parties worried about their prospects.
Polling, however, picked up during the last three hours to hover around an average 47% - 4% higher than the 43.8% in the 2010 municipal elections.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state controls six of the eight municipal corporations - Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot, Surat, Jamnagar and Bhavnagar - that went to the polls. The terms of Gandhinagar and Junagadh are yet to end.
Rajkot city topped with a maximum of 50% turnout, followed by Bhavnagar with 49 and Jamnagar with 47 - all three cities fall in the Saurashtra region that has a sizeable population of the Patel community which is on a warpath with the Anandiben Patel government over their demand for reservation.
The state’s commercial capital Ahmedabad and cultural hub Vadodara too saw around 47% voter turnout.
Surat that cuts and polishes nearly 80% of the diamonds exported from the country, scored the lowest turnout of 44%.
Though no untoward incident or poll-related violence was reported from anywhere, the state election commission (SEC) received a large number of complaints of deletion of names from voters’ lists from all the cities.
Official sources said every city must have received an average of three major complaints about the absence of and deletion of voters’ names from electoral lists.
The number of missing voters ranged from 500 to a staggering 2,000 from booths at a number of wards.
Allegations poured in from opposition parties and independent candidates that this was more rampant in areas with a dominance of the Patel community.
Congress and Patel agitation leaders said the BJP was scared that the community, which has always remained with the party through the decades, was deserting it this time after the pro-reservation agitation.
They alleged there was “conspiracy” to prevent a large number of Patels from voting.
BJP chief Amit Shah casts his vote during the first phase of the local body elections in Ahmedabad yesterday.
