1. Lok Sabha Election 2019: Voting Over, Month-Long Wait for Results Begins
Over 63.67 percent of Gujarat's voters exercised their franchise in the Lok Sabha elections on Tuesday, 23 April. According to latest figures available while going to print, the voter turnout of 63.67 percent is only marginally lower than the state's all-time high of 63.77 percent, recorded in the 1967 Lok Sabha elections. Five years ago, the corresponding figure was 63.66 percent.
"There is a strong possibility that we will create a new record in terms of voting in a Lok Sabha election in Gujarat, when postal ballots are taken into consideration," said additional chief electoral officer Ashok Manek.
(Source: DNA Ahmedabad)
2. Narendra Modi Repeatedly Violating Code of Conduct, Why No Action: Congress to Poll Panel
The Congress on Tuesday, 23 April, approached the Election Commission, demanding action against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for “repeated violation” of the model code of conduct.
The party said Modi’s road show in Ahmedabad after he cast his vote was a blatant violation of the code and asked why the poll panel is “reluctant” to take action against the Prime Minister.
“There has been repeated violation of the model code of conduct by the Prime Minister. You have taken action against the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, you have taken action against a Congress leader from Punjab, you have taken action against a sitting minister from Modi government but why are you reluctant to take action against the Prime Minister? Today the road show of the Prime Minister was a clear violation of the model code of conduct,” Congress leader Jairam Ramesh told reporters.
(Source: Indian Express)
3. Jeet Hamari Hogi: Lk Advani Votes as Commoner, Not Candidate
Vetran BJP leader LK Advani on Tuesday, 23 April, voted at a polling booth in a school in Shahpur, Ahmedabad. This was the first time in decades that the founding member of the BJP had cast his vote merely as a voter and not a candidate.
Advani arrived at the polling booth, which falls under Ahmedabad West constituency, accompanied by his daughter Pratibha around afternoon. Also, accompanying him was BJP Ahmedabad West candidate Kirit Solanki.
Without taking much time, the 91-year-old walked straight to the polling booth, cast his vote and left without giving any statement or talking to the media that was waiting for his arrival.
Maintaining his silence, he only said “jeet hamari hogi (victory will be ours),” while leaving the booth.
(Source: Indian Express)
4. Lok Sabha Election 2019: Reserved Seats and Rural Areas Trump Urban Centres
Urban voters may be more aware of their rights as citizens, but it appears from voting trends that rural folk are more aware of their duties as citizens.
Voting trends from Tuesday's Lok Sabha elections across Gujarat show that urban centres were outvoted by the voters from rural Gujarat, especially those reserved or dominated by tribal voters.
The Ahmedabad East seat, from where MLA Hasmukh Patel was pitted against Congress's Geeta Patel, saw 60.77 percent provisional voting. Similarly, Ahmedabad West seat, which saw a fight between MP Dr Kirit Solanki and former Rajya Sabha MP Raju Parmar, recorded 59.82 percent turnout. Bhavnagar in Saurashtra saw 58.41 percent turnout as BJP MP Bhartiben Shiyal was pitted against the Congress' Manhar Patel.
Chief Minister Vijay Rupani's home town of Rajkot saw 63.12 percent voting, while Surat recorded 63.99 percent, just marginally higher than the state average.
(Source: DNA Ahmedabad)
5. Voters Skip Polling in a Few Gujarat Villages, Cite Crop Failure, Water Crisis
Even as 63.67 percent of the electorate of the state turned out to vote on Tuesday, 23 April, a few villages in Jamnagar, Kutch and Tapi districts that have been hit by drought, boycotted the polls over low payout of crop insurance for their failed crop, and inadequate provision of water supply, among other reasons.
Not a single voter out of the 3,344 in three polling booths of Bhangor village in Jamnagar Lok Sabha constituency exercised their franchise on Tuesday. They were disappointed by the low payout of crop insurance for their groundnut crop.
(Source: Indian Express)
6. Vadodara’s Displaced Queue Up, Only to Find Their Names Missing
For 20-year-old Talib Khan, the excitement of being a first-time voter fizzled out as he could not register himself in the voters’ list this time. He, however, accompanied his parents on Tuesday, 23 April, to a polling station in Bal Bhavan school of Vadodara where the displaced residents of Kalyan Nagar are registered.
“We used to live in Kalyan Nagar. My parents are registered voters here. Since our homes were demolished and we did not have an address, I had applied for a voter ID card on our rental address, but I did not find my name in the list there,” said Talib, adding that the administration displaced the residents in a hurry without thinking of the long-term impact like this.
“I wish they had handled this better. The way they have left us on streets without any accountability or need to expedite the construction of our homes speaks a lot about their intent,” he said.
(Source: Indian Express)
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