The appeals by political parties and the Election Commission of India (ECI) asking urbanites to come out and vote seem to have had little impact as the turnout in the second and final phase of the assembly election in Gujarat for 93 seats was only slightly better than the first phase which registered a turnout of 63. 31%. Of the 25.4 million electorate, nearly 64 39% exercised their franchise on Monday, nearly 6 percentage points less compared to the second phase turnout in 2017.
Gujarat’s chief electoral officer P Bharathi said, “Monday was a working day. Weddings coinciding with election, and fewer voting hours affected the polling adversely,” Bharathi said, blaming urban apathy too. “In our report, we will ask the ECI to increase the voting hours (in future elections) and take steps to improve voting in urban areas,” she added.
The second phase will decide the electoral fate of 833 candidates in central and north Gujarat districts, some of the big names being chief minister Bhupendra Patel and his eight ministers along with young Turks and caste agitation leaders Hardik Patel, Jignesh Mevani and Alpesh Thakor.
While the rural areas displayed democratic fervour, people in urban centres trudged to polling booths, many of them after much coaxing by party workers.
The far-flung villages of Tharad and Deodar in Banaskantha came out overwhelmingly with the two seats recording an impressive 78% and 74% voting respectively.
Bedridden people, patients on oxygen support, senior citizens including centenarians, and trans people were among those who came out to vote, setting an example for others to exercise their democratic right. The fact that most voters in cities preferred to cool their heels at home was evident from the fact that the 23 urban seats of Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Gandhinagar, saw the turnout drop from 67. 02% in phase 2 of 2017 to 56.15% this time. The lowest voting was in Ahmedabad (54. 88%) followed by Vadodara (58. 5%) and Gandhinagar (60. 47%).
Several reasons like long queues and not being allowed to take mobile phones into the polling centres added to the disinterest. In tribal areas, which usually witness massive turnouts, the polling remained much less compared to the 2017 poll. In the 13 tribal seats, the turnout was 61. 76%, much less compared to 67. 67% in the second phase of 2017.
On the six scheduled caste(SC) seats too, the polling fell from 69. 74% in 2017 to 63. 28% this time. Stray incidents of violence were reported from Panchmahal and Dahod. Stones were pelted at the car of Congress candidate Prabhatsinh Chauhan after friction between party workers in a village where he had gone to check reports of bogus voting. A Congress worker was stabbed in Margala village of Dahod district following some quarrel at a polling booth. Skirmishes were also reported in Pirozepur village near Vadgam between the BJP and the Congress workers.
63.31% turnout in first phase
The final figure of the voter turnout for the 89 seats that voted in Phase I, in Saurashtra, Kutch and South Gujarat, was 63. 31%. This was about five percentage points lower than the turnout on these seats in 2017. Bharuch district reported a turnout of 66. 31%, a decline of 7. 11 percentage points from 73. 42% in 2017.
Other districts that reported major declines were Rajkot (6. 84 pp), Dangs (6. 48 pp) and Jamnagar (6. 28 pp). Of the 19 districts that voted, Devbhoomi Dwarka was the only one to report a higher turnout, with a 1. 9% increase. The turnout in 2017 was 59. 81%, and increased to 61. 71%.
Tribal-dominated Narmada district reported the highest turnout, 78. 24%, followed by Tapi, another tribal district, at 76. 91%. Navsari recorded a turnout of 71. 06%, the EC said.
Dedipada in Narmada recorded the highest turnout, 82. 71%, followed by Kaprada at 70. 57%. The lowest turnout was on the Gandhidham seat, 47. 86%. Karanj was second-lowest at 50. 54%. By district, Botad recorded the lowest turnout, 57. 58%, according to the EC’s final tally. Amreli followed closely at 57. 59%.
Turnout was 62. 27% in Surat and 60. 45% in Rajkot. Three villages reported boycotts of the election - Dhrafa in Jamnagar, Samot in Narmada and Kesar in Bharuch district.
During voting, 89 ballot units, 82 control units and 238 voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) units had to be replaced in these 19 districts, the chief election officer’s (CEO) office said.
A total of 104 complaints were received during voting, including six regarding malfunctioning EVMs, two regarding bogus voting, 30 regarding law and order issues, 36 regarding violations of the model code of conduct (MCC), and 30 for issues such as slow voting, bogus voting and power cuts, it said in a release.
