New Delhi: An average 34.48 per cent voter turnout was recorded in the first phase of the Gujarat Assembly elections till 1 PM on Thursday.
As the Election Commission's Turnout app, following is the district-wise poll percentage recorded till 1 PM:
Those who voted in the initial hours of polling included senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, state BJP chief CR Paatil, Rajya Sabha member Parimal Nathwani, BJP candidate from Jamnagar (North) Rivaba Jadeja, Congress party's former leader of opposition Paresh Dhanani and state AAP president Gopal Italia.
The EC posted photos of centenarian voters, Kamuben Patel and Ramji Bhai, who cast their votes at polling stations.
Cricketer Ravindra Jadeja and Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya also cast their votes in Jamnagar and in Hanol village respectively. Gujarat Civil Aviation Minister Purnesh Modi, Agriculture Minister Raghavji Patel, and Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi were among the early voters.
Congress leader Paresh Dhanani, the candidate from the Amreli seat, and Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Rajkot-South seat nominee Dinesh Joshi paddled their way to polling stations with gas cylinders tied on the back of their bicycles in a move to protest against inflation.
Voting began at 8 am across 19 districts of Saurashtra-Kutch and southern regions to decide the fate of 788 candidates contesting in the first phase.
Till 11 am, Tapi district recorded the highest turnout 26.47 per cent, followed by Dang - 24.99 per cent.
Devbhumi Dwarka district recorded the lowest 15.86 per cent turnout so far, as per the EC update. In the Surat district, 17.92 per cent of polling was recorded, while in Amreli it was 19 per cent.
(With Agency Inputs)