Gujarat polls: Over 1.81 crore voters in first phase

Ahmedabad: Around 1.81 crore voters are expected to exercise their franchise in the first phase of assembly elections in Gujarat on 13 December to elect 87 legislators of the 182-member House, as per the final electoral rolls released by the state Election Commission. The assembly constituencies in Saurashtra, South Gujarat and four talukas in rural areas of Ahmedabad will go to polls in the first phase.[caption id=“attachment_532076” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Time to vote. PTI [/caption] Male and female voters comprise 95.81 lakh and 86.04 lakh of the electorate respectively, in addition to 118 others. Votes will be cast at 21,261 polling stations in the first phase. Surat, with 32.26 lakh voters, has the most number of polling stations—3,770 while the tribal district of Dangs with 1.44 lakh electors has the least number of polling stations—320. Around 23.87 lakh voters are expected to exercise franchise to elect MLAs from 11 assembly constituencies in Rajkot district where there are 2,589 polling stations. In coastal Saurashtra belt, Junagadh has 2,182 polling stations, Bhavnagar 2,082, Jamnagar 1,617, Surendranagar 1,283, Amreli 1,270 and Porbandar 423. In South Gujarat, a major expanse of which comprises the tribal community, Valsad has 1,255 polling stations, Bharuch 1,224, Navsari 1,087, Narmada 560 and Tapi 559. The four assembly constituencies in Ahmedabad district that will go to polls in the first phase—Viramgam, Sanand, Dholka and Dhandhuka—have a total of 1,040 polling stations where 8.66 lakhs voters are likely to cast their votes. PTI