55.22% polling recorded till 5 pm in 25 seats of Gujarat; PM Modi, Shah among early voters

Ahmedabad: A voter turnout of 55.22 per cent was recorded till 5 pm in 25 Lok Sabha seats of Gujarat in the third phase of the elections on Tuesday, an Election Commission (EC) official said.

Altogether 265 candidates, including Union Home Minister Shah from Gandhinagar, and his cabinet colleagues Mansukh Mandaviya and Parshottam Rupala from Porbandar and Rajkot, respectively, are in the fray.

Of the total 26 constituencies, polling is underway in 25 seats barring Surat, which the BJP had won uncontested after eight out of nine candidates withdrew from the race and the nomination of the Congress candidate was rejected.

"An average 55.22 per cent voter turnout was recorded between 7 am and 5 pm in Gujarat," the official said.

Polling will end at 6 PM.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Shah, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and Chief Electoral Officer for Gujarat, P Bharathi were among the early voters.

As per the data shared by the Election Commission, the tribal-reserved Valsad constituency in south Gujarat has recorded the highest turnout of 68.12 per cent, while the Amreli seat in Saurashtra saw the lowest turnout of 45.59 per cent till 5 PM.

Meanwhile, a 45-year-old woman polling officer deployed at a polling booth in Amreli district died after she complained of uneasiness while on duty on Tuesday, an official said.

Kaushika Babariya, a teacher at a government school, was deployed at a school in Jafrabad town.

"Doctors concluded that the probable cause of death was a heart attack," said Ajay Dahiya, Amreli collector and district election officer.

Since early morning, voters queued up in large numbers outside several polling booths in the state to avoid the scorching heat.

While the prime minister cast his vote at Nishan School in Ranip area, Shah exercised his franchise at a polling booth in Naranpura, both of which fall under the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat from where he is in the fray.

Gujarat has 4.97 crore voters, including 2.56 crore men, 2.41 crore women and 1,534 persons from the third gender.

Of the 50,788 polling booths, 17,275 are located in urban areas and 33,513 in rural parts, according to officials.