Vadodara, July 31 (IANS) Polling for the by-election to Gujarat’s Manjalpur Assembly constituency concluded peacefully on Thursday, with the final voter turnout recorded at 37.50 per cent, according to the Election Commission of India (ECI).
The turnout was significantly lower than the 60.15 per cent recorded in the constituency during the 2022 Gujarat Assembly election, when the seat elected veteran BJP leader and former state minister Yogesh Patel, whose death necessitated the bypoll.
Polling progressed steadily through the day, with turnout rising from 6.06 per cent by 10 a.m. to 14.27 per cent by 12.30 p.m., 21.66 per cent by 2 p.m., 34.35 per cent by 5 p.m., before closing at 37.50 per cent.
A total of 2,19,494 electors were eligible to vote in the constituency, including 1,11,645 men, 1,07,847 women and two third-gender voters.
The electoral roll also comprised 1,634 Persons with Disabilities (PwD), 1,406 voters aged 85 years and above, and 12 centenarian voters.
Before polling day, 107 electors, including 90 senior citizens, cast their ballots through the Election Commission’s home voting facility.
The by-election witnessed a straight contest between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress.
The BJP fielded Satish Patel, a former Vadodara Municipal Corporation councillor and former BJP Vadodara district president. At the same time, the Congress nominated Bhikha Rabari, the party’s state vice-president and a former state minister.
Polling was conducted at 260 polling stations across 62 locations in the constituency. Election authorities made arrangements, including ramps, drinking water, electricity, and toilet facilities, at all polling stations.
Two polling stations were managed entirely by women personnel, two by Persons with Disabilities staff, and five functioned as model polling stations.
The Election Commission implemented 100 per cent live webcasting and CCTV surveillance at all polling stations. Mobile deposit counters were established outside polling booths, while polling officials updated voter turnout every two hours through the ECINET application.
Voting remained largely peaceful throughout the day. A brief confrontation was reported outside a polling station at Panchsheel Vidyalaya after BJP and Congress workers exchanged allegations over an alleged violation of the Model Code of Conduct.
Police intervened, dispersed the gathering and confirmed that polling continued uninterrupted. No major law-and-order incidents were reported elsewhere in the constituency.
For the conduct of the election, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Makarpura served as the dispatch centre, receipt centre, strong room, and counting centre.
Election authorities also deployed nine Flying Squads, three Static Surveillance Teams, two Video Surveillance Teams and one Anti-Defacement Team to monitor expenditure and enforce the Model Code of Conduct.
The votes polled in the Manjalpur Assembly by-election will be counted on August 3, when the constituency will learn who succeeds the late Yogesh Patel as its representative in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly.
–IANS
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