Voting for Gujarat local body polls held peacefully fate of 5 084 candidates sealed Officials

    Ahmedabad, Feb 16 (PTI) Voting concluded peacefully Sunday for elections and bye-elections to various local bodies in Gujarat amid tight security, sealing the fate of 5,084 candidates in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), officials said.


    Elections were conducted to Junagadh Municipal Corporation, 66 municipalities and three taluka panchayats, and bypolls for Botad and Wankaner municipalities and 124 seats of different other local and urban bodies lying vacant for various reasons, they said.

    This is the first electoral contest for local bodies where 27 per cent of seats in panchayats, municipalities and civic corporations have been reserved for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs), as per the Gujarat government's decision in 2023.

    While the consolidated final voter turnout was yet to be released, Junagadh municipal corporation recorded a provisional turnout of 44.32 per cent.

    Botad municipality recorded a provisional turnout of 31 per cent, officials said.

    Voting remained largely peaceful with sporadic instances of violence.

    The malfunctioning of EVMs at a polling booth at Radhanpur in Patan district disrupted the process briefly. It was sorted out and voting proceeded smoothly.

    Many centenary voters, men and women queued up at polling booths to cast their votes during the day.

    A few bridegrooms, all dressed up for their weddings, were seen getting their index fingers inked at polling booths at Radhanpur in Patan, Anklav in Anand, and Kalol in Panchmahal.

    Ramaben Zala (101) and Pachuben Olakia (102) stole the show when they arrived to cast their votes at Gadhada in the Botad district.

    Members of Parliament Rajesh Chudasama (Junagadh) and Jashubhai Rathva (Chhota Udepur) also exercised their franchise at their respective polling booths.

    Voting was not held in 213 “uncontested” seats in different local bodies as only one candidate, that of the ruling BJP, remained in the fray after others withdrew their nominations.

    These include eight of the 60 seats across 15 wards of the Junagadh Municipal Corporation, where only the BJP candidates remained in the fray after rival Congress and other candidates withdrew from the poll race.

    The BJP has said that it is set to win the four municipalities of Bhachau, Jafrabad, Bantva and Halol as the number of seats declared “uncontested” in its favour is higher than the majority required in each of these civic bodies.

    The Congress claimed its candidates were threatened to withdraw their nominations, a charge refuted by the BJP.

    The Gujarat government had in August 2023 increased the OBC quota threshold in municipal corporations, panchayats and municipalities to 27 per cent from the previous 10 per cent based on the Justice (retd) KS Jhaveri Commission's report.

    The existing reservation in local bodies for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes remained unchanged at 14 per cent and 7 per cent, respectively, maintaining the overall quota under the 50 per cent ceiling.

    The Jhaveri Commission was set up in July 2022 after the Supreme Court ruled that reservations for OBCs should be based on their population.

    The panel collected and analysed data about the nature and implications of backwardness in local bodies, an exercise necessary for fixing the OBC quota in elections for institutes of local self-governance.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)