About 60 per cent turnout was recorded in the first phase of Assembly elections in Gujarat on Tuesday. The Election Commission (EC) said the polling passed off peacefully without any major incidents. In the first phase, polling was held in 87 constituencies of 14 districts of Saurashtra and south Gujarat.

Reports also indicated that voters belonging to Leuva Patel, Muslim and Koli communities came out in large numbers in most parts of Saurashtra and Kutch to exercise their franchise. In South Gujarat too, a heavy turnout of Muslims and other backward classes was reported.

Navsari district reported the highest polling, ranging between 64 and 66 per cent. It was followed by Surendranagar and Junagadh where voting between 62 per cent and 64 per cent were recorded. State Chief Electoral Officer Vinod Babbar said, according to initial reports from the district election officers, above 50 per cent polling was recorded in all the 14 districts.

A few complaints of booth capturing and one isolated incident of poll boycott were recorded. Babbar said the local people in Dwarka constituency of Jamnagar district abstained from voting at three booths to protest against the State Education Department for not sanctioning a high school in the area. In another incident, a presiding officer in Choryasi constituency in Surat was replaced for allowing two polling agents of a political party in one booth. In the same constituency from where BJP Minister for Water Resources Narottam Patel is seeking re-election, a case of violation of code of conduct was registered against two rival nominees for distributing voting slips with their respective party symbols on them.

... contd.