Over 63 % voting for Talala assembly by-poll in Gujarat

Gandhinagar

Over 63 % polling took place during the by-election in Talala Assembly constituency in Gir-Somnath district of Gujarat today which went off peacefully amid tight security .

District collector Ajay Kumar said that 63.66 % of around two lakh voters exercised their franchise during the by-polls which began at 7 AM this morning and concluded at 5 PM.

‘The polling was peaceful and no untoward incident has taken place,’ the collector said.

There are total six candidates in the fray including BJP’s Govind Parmar, who had earlier won the Talala seat in 2002 and Congress’ Bhagwanji Barad, younger brother of Jasu Barad, the Congress MLA whose demise in January this year has necessitated the by-polls. The remaining four are independents.

Total number of voters is 203003 for whom 230 booths have been set up.

The counting of votes will take place on May 19.

Meanwhile elaborate security arrangements have been made for the by polls with deployment of para military forces also.

The main contest is said to be between BJP and Congress. In an earlier contest between the two candidates in 2007 on this seat Barad had defeated Parmar while in 2002 Parmar had defeated Jasu Barad, who revenged the defeat in 2012 by winning the seat with a thin margin against Parmar.

– DeshGujarat