Gujarat polls: 3.8 cr voters will decide fate of 1,666 candidates

Ahmedabad: A total of 3.80 crore voters, constituting 62 per cent of the total population of Gujarat, are going to decide the fate of 1,666 candidates in two phase elections of the state Assembly. “For the upcoming two phase Assembly elections at 182 constituencies, total registered voters are 3,80,77,454, which is 62 per cent of the total population of the state,” said Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Anita Karwal while addressing the media. [caption id=“attachment_546952” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption] “Maximum number of voters, 1,00,69,061, are in the age group of 20-29 years and interestingly there are 4,25,564 voters in the state who are 80 years and above”, she said. As per the EC data, 1,666 candidates are in the fray for 182 seats and total of 44,579 polling stations will be set up for the voting in two phases, on 13 and 17 December. Election Commission has declared 17,029 polling booths as critical and vulnerable in the state, where authorities have decided to carry live web casting of polling. There are 16 Assembly constituencies in the state where more than one woman candidate is contesting and on Limbayat seat in Surat, four women candidates are in the fray, out of total 95 women contestants in the state. In this Assembly elections, Limbayat is the seat where maximum 20 candidates are in fray and at Fatepura in Dahod only 3 candidates are contesting. As per official data, area wise Abdasa in Kutch is the largest Assembly constituency with 6,278 sq km and electorate wise largest Assembly constituency is Kamrej in Surat with 3,04,621 voters and smallest is Karanj with 1,44,161 voters. “Regarding the violation of Model Code of Conduct (MCC), we have received 28 complaints from BJP out of which 20 have been disposed and eight are either pending or referred to ECI,” said Karwal. She also informed that they received 18 complaints from Congress party and 12 from other parties and out of total 58 complaints of MCC violations, only 16 have been either pending or referred to ECI. Apart from political parties, the Commission have received total of 863 complaints from all over the state, out of which in 830 cases authorities have taken necessary action and in 54 cases FIR has been filed under different sections of Indian Penal Code(IPC). Rajkot district stands on top of the list with 92 complaints sent to Election Commission authorities, whereas 72 complaints were received from Vadodara and 71 from Surat. During the polls, the commission will be using two ballot units (BU) only at 5 constituencies - Khambhalia, Jetpur, Dhoraji, Limbayat and Himatnagar - where more than 16 candidates each are contesting. “For this Assembly elections, it is for the first time EC has introduced technology of SMS-based monitoring of the polling and every two hours we will get the exact data of voting percentage,” Karwal said. PTI