Gujarat bypolls: 53.68% turnout in six assembly seats

A 53.68 per cent turnout was recorded in the byelections to six Assembly constituencies in Gujarat on Monday.

Polling for the six seats spread across various districts was held between 8 am and 6 pm.

Counting of votes will be taken up on October 24.

The bypolls were held for Tharad in Banaskantha district, Radhanpur in Patan, Kheralu in Mehsana, Bayad in Arvalli, Amraiwadi in Ahmedabad and Lunawada in Mahisagar district.

By 6 pm, Tharad recorded the highest turnout of 68.95 percent, while Amraiwadi, an urban seat of Ahmedabad city, recorded the lowest 34.75 per cent polling.

While Radhanpur seat recorded 62.95 per cent turnout, it was 61.01 per cent in Bayad. It was followed by Lunawada (51.23 per cent) and Kheralu (46.15 per cent), officials said.

No untoward incident took place during polling.

At Nani Hirvani village in Kheralu, police found a man hanging from the fence of the compound wall of a primary school, which was used as a polling booth.

The deceased was identified as 20-year-old labourer Vasant Chauhan.

A case of suicide has been registered by Kheralu police, officials said, adding that the incident didn't impact voting process.

Byelections were necessitated in Radhanpur and Bayad due to the resignations of sitting Congress MLAs Alpesh Thakor and Dhavalsinh Zala, who quit the Congress and joined the BJP.

The ruling party has fielded both of them from their respective seats in the by-elections.

Besides, bypolls became necessary in Tharad, Lunawada, Kheralu and Amraiwadi after the BJP MLAs of these seats got elected to the Lok Sabha.

Four of the six seats were won by BJP in 2017, while two were held by Congress.

The BJP has fielded Jivrajbhai Patel in Tharad, Jignesh Sevak in Lunawada, Ajmalbhai Thakor in Kheralu and Jagdish Patel in Amraiwadi.

The Congress has nominated Gulabsinh Rajput from Tharad, Raghubhai Desai from Radhanpur, Babuji Thakor from Kheralu, Jasubhai Patel from Bayad, Dharmendra Patel from Amraiwadi and Gulabsinh Chauhan from Lunawada.