Polling for all the Lok Sabha seats concluded in Gujarat on Tuesday evening with the state recording an average voter turnout of 55.22 per cent till 5 pm.
The polling percentage will increase after the Election Commission releases the final voter turnout The voter turnout during Lok Sabha elections in 2014 and 2019 --- when BJP swept the Lok Sabha polls in Gujarat -- were 63.66 per cent and 64.51 per cent, respectively.
“Till 5 pm, 55.22 per cent polling was recorded. The exact turnout figure will be known only by midnight,” P Bharati, Chief Electoral Officer, Gujarat, told mediapersons after the polls concluded for 25 of the 26 Lok Sabha seats in a single phase. BJP had already won the Surat seat unopposed after the Congress candidate’s nomination form was rejected and the remaining contestants withdrew from the poll-race.
Lok Sabha election 2024: Over 63 per cent polling in third phase
Valsad tops
For the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the highest voter-turnout at 5 p.m. has been recorded on the reserved tribal seat of Valsad in South Gujarat where Dhaval Patel of BJP is contesting against sitting Congress MLA Anant Patel. Valsad recorded a turnout of 68.12 per cent at 5 p.m. Despite the hot summer weather, seats including Banaskantha (64.48 pe cent), Chotta Udepur (63.76 per cent), Bharuch (63.56 per cent) also saw a significant turnout in the state where polls are being held in a single phase.
In the 2019 polls, when BJP won all the 26 seats for a second consecutive time, the highest percentage of votes were polled at Valsad where 75.48 per cent of the voters on the seat exercised their franchise. The lowest percentage of votes polled in 2019 was in Amreli (55.97 per cent).
In the 2024 polls, the lowest voting percentage has been recorded on the Amreli seat where BJP’s Bharat Sutariya is contesting against Congress candidate Jenny Thummar. Amreli saw a turnout of 45.59 per cent at 5 p.m. The second lowest polling was recorded in Porbandar (46.515) where Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya is taking on Congress rival Lalit Vasoya.
Key contests
In the morning, PM Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah cast their votes in Ahmedabad city. “I have full confidence that the voters will elect a government that will provide stability, security and prosperity and will make India free from poverty,” Shah said after casting his vote. Among the prominent businessmen who exercised their franchise in Ahmedabad include Gautam Adani and his family members and Infibeam Avenues Ltd’s CMD Vishal Mehta.
In the Gandhinagar constituency, represented by Shah, the voting percentage stood at 55.65 percent. In 2019, the seat had recorded a voter-turnout of 65.57 per cent. At Rajkot which has been the epicentre of Kshatriya protests, the voting percentage stood at 54.29 per cent. In this seat Union minister for dairying and animal husbandry Parshottam Rupala is contesting against Congress leader Paresh Dhanani.
Congress which is fighting the polls in alliance with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is contesting 23 seats, while the AAP candidates are contesting the remaining two seats.