39% voter turnout recorded in Gujarat till 2 p.m.

39% voter turnout recorded in Gujarat till 2 p.m.

Gandhinagar April 23 (IANS) The average voter turnout till 2 p.m. has been recorded at 39.27 per cent in Gujarat, where all the 26 Lok Sabha constituencies of the state are going to the polls in the third phase on Tuesday.

Big names like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP President Amit Shah, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Madhya Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel cast their votes at different polling stations in Ahmedabad which falls under the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat being contested by Shah. The constituency recorded a turnout of around 39 per cent till 2 p.m.

Gujarat's Chief Election Officer (CEO) S. Murlikrishna told the media: "Polling has been peaceful in the state so far. There were some complaints regarding EVM malfunctioning during the mock polls carried out prior to the election process in the morning. All those machines have been replaced. We have received 12 complaints, out of which one is regarding EVM."

Two complaints were received from Olpad and Mota Varachha region in Surat. The Congress had complained about some persons displaying banners near the polling stations there, the CEO said.

Two complaints were also received from Ahmedabad's Bodakdev region where banners were displayed on some roadside buildings, which were later removed following EC directions.

"A group of people threatened some agents in Jhalod in Dahod district. We have told the collector there to probe the matter. The Congress candidate in Porbandar also complained about bogus polling agents, which is being investigated," said Murlikrishna.

Complaints were also received from Bhavnagar, Patan and Rajkot.

"There are 4,800 sensitive booths out of the total 51,851 polling stations, and 96 per cent booths have been facilitated with webcasting," Murlikrishna added.

--IANS

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