Gujarat Chief Electoral Officer Gursharan Singh on Thursday said that about 60 per cent of the voters had cast their votes in the assembly election. However, these are tentative figures and the Election Commission is yet to release the official figures.

In Delhi, Deputy Election Commissioner A N Jha said that an estimated 63 per cent of the electorate had exercised its franchise. Jha said the election was by and large peaceful with no major incident of violence.

One of the most fiercely contested assembly elections in the state, it was held nine months after the Godhra carnage and subsequent communal violence, and is considered to be a watershed in the country's politics.

The polling in 181 constituencies, which remained by and large peaceful, was marred by complaints of a large number of names missing from the electoral rolls, including that of VHP leader Pravin Togadia.

Repolling is also likely to take place at two polling booths in Anand (city) constituency where a group of persons stormed two polling booths and broke the seal of two EVMs, State Home Secretary K Nityanandam said in Ahmedabad.

One person was also arrested for snatching an EVM in Patan constituency in north Gujarat, he said.

According to available trends, Jasdan in the Saurashtra region has recorded the highest 64% polling.

Reports from various districts:

Anita Karwal, district election officer for Rajkot: Polling has been incident-free. Over 60% polling was recorded in rural Rajkot. In the urban areas, it was 48%. These are tentative figures, she clarified.

The poll was incident-free, except for recovery of a home-made bomb in Jetpur, she said.

While Vajubhai Vala, BJP candidate from Rajkot II said the heavy polling was a slap on the face of those who vilified Gujarat, his opponent Congress candidate Kashmira Nathwani said the heavy polling indicated an anti-incumbency wave and that the Modi government is on its way out.

R K Pathak, DEO for Junagarh: The district recorded brisk polling and the final figure is likely to be above 60%. There were quite a few complaints from voters saying their names were missing from the electoral lists.

D J Dharaiya, DEO for Surendranagar: Preliminary trends indicate above 50% polling.

The DEOs expect the exact polling figures to be available around 2300 IST on Thursday night.

With inputs from R Swaminathan in Rajkot

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