Ahmedabad:Around 45 per cent turnout was registered today in polling held for 568 seats across six municipal corporations even as scores of voters, mainly from Patel community, could not exercise their franchise as they did not find their names in the final list prepared by State Election Commission.
Though no untoward incident was reported during voting, several voters complained that they were deprived of casting vote as their names did not figure in the list.
The elections are considered to be a litmus test for Anandiben Patel government of BJP against the backdrop of violent stir by Patel community members for quota, while the Congress is looking forward to spin the resentment in their favour.
Voting began at 8 AM and lasted till 5 PM in municipal corporations of Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot, Vadodara, Jamnagar and Bhavnagar—all currently held by the BJP.
As per the tentative figures released by the State Election Commission (SEC), out of total 95.9 lakh registered voters, around 45 per cent voters cast their votes though final figures are yet to be arrived at.
Prominent among voters were BJP patriarch L K Advani, Chief Minister Patel and BJP chief Amit Shah as they all are registered voters of different parts of city.
Though Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also a registered voter from Ranip area of the city, he could not come due to his ongoing tour of Malaysia for ASEAN summit.
Meanwhile, the chief minister expressed confidence that her party will emerge victorious.
“We are going to win the elections. After casting my vote, I am going to Saurashtra region for campaigning for district panchayats polls,” Patel told reporters after casting her vote at Shilaj area here in morning.
Advani, who had raised a banner of revolt against the Prime Minister after the Bihar poll debacle, praised the NDA government after casting his vote.
“I believe that the whole system takes it’s own time.
Since the government is going in the right direction, I believe that the results will also be good,” Advani said in reply to a question whether Modi government has failed to fulfil it’s promise of bringing ‘Acche Din’, especially in the wake of recent price rise in pulses.
Patel community members held protests in various parts of the city, especially in the CM’s Ghatlodia area, saying names of many of them were deleted by the SEC from the final voting list, which the opposition Congress alleged was done at the behest of the BJP.
Counting of votes will take place on December 2.