Civic polls underway in Gujarat, CM Anandiben Patel casts her vote in Ahmedabad

Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel cast her vote at a polling station in Ahmedabad on Sunday, joining tens of hundreds of others in exercising their franchise in local body elections taking place in six cities of the state.

Representatives of the Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat, Vadodara, Bhavnagar and Jamnagar municipal corporations are seeking a fresh mandate to continue in office. Voting of local body election began this morning.

All six municipal corporations are currently being ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Gujarat State Election Commission (SEC) has made elaborate arrangements for the polls, said its secretary Mahesh Joshi.

Necessary security arrangements have also been put in place. Apart from Gujarat police and the SRP, 110 companies of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) have been deployed, he added.

As many as 1,856 candidates belonging to different parties and independents are in fray for 568 seats in 143 wards of six municipal corporations.

According to an SEC release, over 95.9 lakh voters have been registered for these six cities. Out of them, 51.1 lakh are male, while 44.79 lakh are female voters. The total number of polling booths are 12,616.

The highest number of voters are registered in Ahmedabad (39.83 lakh), followed by Surat (26.27 lakh), Vadodara (12.27 lakh), Rajkot (8.85 lakh), Bhavnagar (4.54 lakh) and Jamnagar (4.11 lakh).

Of the 568 seats, Ahmedabad has the highest 192 seats in 48 wards, followed by Surat with 116 seats in 29 wards), Vadodara with 76 seats in 19 wards, Rajkot with 72 seats in 18, Jamnagar with 64 seats in 16 wards and Bhavangar with 52 seats in 13 wards, the SEC release said.