Voting for second phase of Guj election ends

Ahmedabad: The fate of 599 candidates including that of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has been sealed in the Electronic Voting Machines after polling for the second and last phase of state assembly elections drew to a close on Sunday.

The voter turnout in Gujarat's second phase of voting was 63-65 per cent according to the Election Commission.

Barring some stray incidents of stone-pelting, complaints of names missing from voters' list and faulty EVMs, the polling in 25,545 booths of North and Central Gujarat regions was largely incident-free.

The counting of the votes will be held on December 23. About 1,87,16,283 voters (95,66,234 males and 91,50,049 females) will decide the fate of 599 candidates, including 31 women in 95 constituencies.

Despite the winter chill, a large number of people turned up for voting since morning.

Both the Congress and the ruling BJP have staked claim of gaining a majority in the 182-seat state Assembly and forming the next government in Gujarat.

The regions where the second phase of elections held today were among the worst-affected in the 2002 riots.

Elections for 87 assembly seats were conducted on December 11.

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