AHMEDABAD:

The turnout was poor, particularly in Lok Sabha constituencies of Banaskantha and Porbandar.

"Banaskantha seat had around 37 per cent voting while Porbandar recorded 30 per cent," Additional Chief Electoral Officer Ashok Manek said, adding that final polling figures will be available only tomorrow.

 
Voting was comparatively high in Assembly seats. Limbadi Assembly seat recorded 62 per cent voting, Morva Hadaf 64 per cent, Dhoraji 33 per cent and Jetpur 45 per cent.

Polling was peaceful everywhere, but at Ribda village in Dhoraji constituency, 1,200 voters boycotted to protest lack of basic amenities in the village.

Banaskantha Lok Sabha seat fell vacant after the death of Congress MP Mukesh Gadhvi. In the bypoll Congress fielded his wife Krishna Gadhvi. At Porbandar, the election was held to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Vitthal Radadiya.

 
Radadiya and his son Jayesh quit Congress in February and crossed over to BJP, which fielded the father-son duo on Porbandar Lok Sabha and Jetpur Assembly seats, respectively.

State Congress chief Arjun Modhwadia claimed Congress would retain all the six seats. "Congress party thanks voters of all the six constituencies who came out to vote in favour of the party candidates overcoming all efforts of BJP government to create an atmosphere of fear," he said.

BJP spokesperson Jagdish Bhavsar said, "Like Assembly elections last year, voters in these bye-elections have also rejected Congress party in favour of BJP whose Chief Minister has brought development to the state."

The two Lok Sabha seats are Porbandar and Banaskantha, while the assembly seats are Dhoraji, Jetpur, Limbadi and Morva Hadaf.

Jetpur, Dhoraji and Limbadi assembly seats registered 23 per cent, 16 per cent and 35 per cent voting till 12 pm respectively, additional chief electoral officer Ashok Manek told PTI adding that Morva Hadaf (reserved for ST) assembly seat registered 30 per cent voter turn out.

For the two Lok Sabha seats of Banaskantha and Porbandar, 19 per cent and 14 per cent voters turnout was recorded in first five hours respectively, he said.

The voting began from 7 am and no untoward incident has been reported so far, the official added.

In view of the heat conditions, the Election Commission has extended the polling time for the by-elections. Voting will continue till 6 pm instead of usual 8 am to 5 pm.

Former Congress MP Vitthal Radadia and his son Jayesh, who joined BJP, will test the political waters from Porbandar Lok Sabha seat and Jetpur assembly seat respectively.

Elections were necessitated at Banaskantha Lok Sabha seat and Morva Hadaf following the deaths of MP Mukesh Gadhvi and MLA Savita Khant, both from Congress.

The by-polls in Gujarat are being viewed as test for the opposition Congress, ahead of the 2014 general elections, as the party had won all the six seats in last elections.

The counting will take place on June 5.

source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com, zeenews.com