Keshubhai Patel casts vote manually after failing to do so online

AHMEDABAD: Former Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel could not cast his vote online and had to visit a polling booth in Rajkot to exercise his franchise after election officials told him that did not complete registration for e-voting.

Patel said although he had registered himself for the online voting in Rajkot, where he is a voter, from his residence in Gandhinagar, when he tried to use the e-voting facility he failed to do so. When asked, he was told by the election officers that his registration was not complete and hence he cannot cast his vote online.

"I had registered myself with the SEC for online voting as on the election day I had some important work in Ahmedabad. But today they informed me that I cannot vote online as my registration was not complete," the octogenarian leader said.

"Earlier, they had told me that my registration was complete and I can vote online, but today they are saying that I cannot vote online. I have taken up this issue with the State Election Commission (SEC)," Patel said.

I had decided to vote online as today I had some work in Ahmedabad, but I had to rush to Rajkot to cast my vote," Patel said.

The veteran BJP leader, who lives in Gandhinagar, had to go all the way to Rajkot to vote.

The SEC had earlier said that more than 20,000 voters have registered themsleves for e-voting.

This is for the second time that the SEC is offering online voting in the six municipal corporation polls in Gujarat. Earlier, SEC had offered online voting in 2010 municipal corporation polls.

Polling is being held in six municipal corporations -- Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot, Vadodara, Jamnagar and Bhavnagar -- all currently ruled by BJP.