Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation polls see 59.3% voter turnout

Gandhinagar: Around 59.3% of voters exercised their franchise in the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation (GMC) elections on Sunday, where polling was held for 44 seats. Voting also took place in the Okha and Thara municipalities, along with by-elections for several local bodies across Gujarat.

A total of 130 candidates contested the 44 seats across 11 wards of the GMC. The main electoral contest was between the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress and AAP.

Polling began at 7 am and continued until 6 pm. No major untoward incidents were reported during the voting process.

The GMC, which has around 2.6 lakh registered voters, last went to polls in October 2021. In that election, the BJP won 41 of the 44 seats, while the Congress secured two and the AAP won one.

According to the State Election Commission (SEC), polling was held for 32 of the 36 seats across nine wards of the Okha municipality, with candidates winning the remaining four seats unopposed. A total of 75 candidates were in the fray.

In Thara municipality, elections were held for 24 seats across six wards, with 59 candidates contesting.

By-elections were also conducted for one seat each in the Kheralu, Chhota Udepur and Bayad municipalities, along with seats in various district and taluka panchayats.

Overall, polling for the GMC elections remained peaceful, barring a few incidents in which workers of political parties were involved in heated exchanges. DeshGujarat