Gujarat records 55 pc polling amid stray cases of violence

Repolling will likely be ordered at eight booths in Palitana Assembly constituency and one in Mahuva constituency, both in Bhavnagar district, where polling was cancelled following snatching of sealed ballot boxes and bogus polling.

According to official sources, in Bhandaria village in Palitana constituency, a mob of ten to 15 persons burst into a pooling booth and set on fire some ballot papers. A complaint saidthat supporters of RJP candidate Pravinsinh Jadeja tried to disrupt the polling process and pelted stones on rival party candidates.

Offence has been registered against Jadeja, who is likely to be arrested sometime today. Another candidate from Shehra Sea in Panchmahas district, Jetha Bharwad (Samajwadi Party) was arrested for alleged booth capturing.CEO Balwant Singh said that final reports regarding Palitana were still awaited from the district collector which would be sent to the Election Commission. Repoll, in all likelihood, would be held on March 2, he added.

Some ugly scenes of violence were witnessed in Ahmedabad and Sarsa constituencies. In Sarsa, police opened fire to disperse a violent mob which was trying to attack Congress candidate Govindbhai Parmar. A Rashtriya Janata Party candidate from Rakhial constituency of Ahmedabad, Kanubhai Kothia was rescued by the cops from an enraged mob in labour dominated Bapunagar area.

In Mehsana, some persons opened fire in the evening after the pollingbut no one was injured. In the prestigious Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat from where LK Advani was contesting, a major clash between BJP and RJP workers was averted by the timely intervention of the police in Sector 24.

In Vadodara and south Gujarat area, polling was peaceful and an estimated 50 to 55 per cent turnout was reported. However a report from Surat said a BJP polling agent, was stabbed thrice and robbed of his valuables when he tried to stop three persons from casting their vote at Palanpore.

District police sources said there were few reports of minor group clashes from Mangrol and Mahuva but details were yet to come. A complaint was lodged against Parivartan Group for alleging that its members tried to lure voters to cast their votes by giving them Rs 20 each in Bardoli.

It was in Varachha that the code of conduct was thrown to winds where everyone could easily enter the schools and get into the booths, whether they had an authority letter or not.

A report from Rajkot said that except for asolitary incident of booth capturing in Tankara taluka of Rajkot district, polling remained by and large peaceful throughout Saurashtra. Miscreants captured a booth in Panchimandal village in Tankara taluka. About 10 persons stamped about 50 ballots after forcibly entering the booth.

In Rajkot, BJP workers including the president of the Nana Mava Panchayat PP Jadeja and several Congress supporters clashed near the polling booth at the GT Sheth High School. Several people from both sides had to be admitted to hospitals after the incident. Vehicles of prominent leaders including the RJP’s Kashyap Shukla and former minister Umesh Rajyaguru were detained for ferrying people to polling booths.

A large number of bogus voting cases were reported from Amreli where there was about 40 per cent polling. Jamnagar polled 33 per cent, Kutch 37 per cent, Surendranagar 47 per cent, Junagadh 37 per cent, Bhavnagar 37 per cent.

In Sukhpar village under Bhuj Assembly area, workers belonging to RJP and BJP clashed, leavingone person injured. Polling in the Lok Sabha and all the Assembly seats including Mandvi from where former chief minister Suresh Mehta was contesting was reportedly around 55 per cent.