Ahmedabad:

Around 60.16per cent voter turnout was recorded by 4.00 pm during polling on 89 seats of Saurashtra and South Gujarat regions in the first phase of the crucial Gujarat assembly polls

After the polling process began at 8 am, people could be seen stepping out of their homes despite cold weather and queuing up to exercise their franchise at the polling stations

According to officials, around 60.16 per cent voting has been recorded by 4.00 pm.

Although there were reports of technical glitches in EVMs in Surat and some other centres, the polling process resumed after the machines were replaced, officials of the Election Commission said

In the first two hours, several important leaders and candidates cast their votes, including Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, his opponent on Rajkot-West seat Indranil Rajyaguru, senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel, Gujarat BJP chief Jitu Vaghani and Congress MLA of Amreli seat Paresh Dhanan, among others.

Cricketer Cheteshwar Pujara also cast his vote in Rajkot.

A total of 89 seats out of 182 — spanning the Saurashtra and south Gujarat regions — are up for grabs in the first phase with 977 candidates in the fray

Prominent candidates for Saturday’s battle include Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, who is contesting from Rajkot (West), Congress’ Shaktisinh Gohil (Mandvi) and Paresh Dhanani (Amreli)

While Modi addressed about 15 rallies, Gandhi spent more than seven days in Saurashtra and south Gujarat, addressing a number of meetings.