60.75 per cent turnout in Gujarat Assembly byelections

AHMEDABAD: A total of 60.75 per cent voter turnout was recorded in byelections to eight Assembly seats in Gujarat, the state Election Commission said on Wednesday.

Byelections to eight seats -- Abdasa, Karjan, Morbi, Gadhada, Dhari, Limbdi, Kaprada and Dang -- were held on Tuesday.

As many as 11,39,163 out of 18,75,032 registered voters exercised their franchise, said a release from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer.

Kaprada constituency in Valsad district registered the highest turnout at 77.50 per cent, followed by Dang at 75.01 per cent and Karjan at 70.01 per cent.

Abdasa recorded 61.82 per cent voting, Limbdi 58.01 per cent, Morbi 52.32 per cent, Gadhada 50.76 and Dhari 45.79 per cent,the release said.

Counting of votes will take place on November 10.

As per the provisional figures released by the Election Commission on Tuesday, the voter turnout till 5 pm was 57.29 per cent.

Voting took place between 7 am and 6 pm.

81 candidates are in the fray across eight seats.

The by-elections were necessitated after the sitting Congress MLAs resigned ahead of Rajya Sabha polls held in June this year.

Five of them later joined the ruling BJP and the party fielded them from the same seats in the bypolls.