Gujarat: 81.11% voting recorded in repolling related to Visavadar bypolls

A voter turnout of 81.11 per cent was recorded at two polling stations in Gujarat's Visavadar assembly constituency during repolling held on Saturday, officials said.

While bypolls to Visavadar and Kadi seats were held on Thursday, the Election Commission a day later ordered repolling in Malida and Nava Vaghaniya polling stations in Visavadar constituency. Voting took place between 6 am and 7 pm on Saturday. The EC had, however, not assigned any reason for repolling.

"Voting was held in a peaceful manner and no untoward incident took place. Both the polling stations recorded a voter turnout of 81.11 percent. Out of 921 registered voters of these two villages, 747 exercised their franchise during the day," Returning Officer Chirag Hirvaniya said.

In the bypolls held on Thursday, the voter turnout in Visavadar and Kadi seats was 56.8 per cent and 57.9 per cent, respectively.

After Thursday's polling, the opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had complained about bogus voting and booth capturing at some of the polling stations, including Nava Vaghaniya.

Junagadh collector and district election officer Anil Ranavasiya had refuted these allegations and said repolling was ordered due to "disruption" during voting, and not because of bogus voting or booth capturing as alleged by AAP.

The Visavadar seat was vacant since December 2023 after AAP MLA Bhupendra Bhayani resigned and joined the ruling BJP.

The fight on the seat is between BJP's Kirit Patel, the Congress' Nitin Ranpariya and AAP's Gopal Italia.