Gujarat: 80% voter turnout in Gram Panchayat polls

AHMEDABAD: Over 80 per cent voter turn out was recorded in the polls held to elect members and sarpanchs in 8,624 Gram panchayats across Gujarat, the State Election Commission (SEC) said today.

"80.12 per cent voter turnout was registered in the polls held yesterday on 8,624 village panchayats in the state. Barring a few small incidents, voting was held in a peaceful manner. Counting votes will be held tomorrow," said a release by SEC.

As per figures shared by SEC, tribal district of Narmada clocked the highest turnout of 87.45 per cent while Bhavnagar district remained the lowest with 70.47 per cent.

In the last elections, held five years back, the voter turnout was around 77 per cent.

This time, around 1.20 lakh candidates were in the fray for 53,116 wards across the state, whereas 26,800 candidates contested on 8,527 seats of Sarpanch.

Over 44,000 ballot boxes were used across more than 22,000 polling booths in the state. Total number of registered voters for the polls stood at over 1.65 crore including 79.6 lakh women.

Due to some procedural irregularities and misprints of some ballot papers during the polling yesterday, SEC said re-election is being held today on six different seats--- four seats for members and two seats of sarpanch.

The polling is underway at present on these seats in Bharuch, Kheda, Panchmahal, Mahisagar and Banaskantha district, said the release.

The release further said polls on 12 seats, including four seats of sarpanch, have been cancelled due to death of candidates in the fray. Polls on these seats will be held later.