AAP leader Gopal Italia alleges voting slow in Gujarat's Katargram, blames EC

Ahmedabad, Dec 01: As the first phase of voting is underway in Gujarat for assembly elections 2022, the Aam Aadmi Party's state president Gopal Italia on Thursday alleged that voting was deliberately slow in the Katargam assembly constituency of Gujarat and blamed the election commission for it.

The AAP leader from Gujarat took to Twitter and wrote, "Voting is being done deliberately slow in Katargam AC... On an average, 3.5% voting has been done in the entire state, but only 1.41% has been done in Katargam," he tweeted in Hindi.

Gopal Italia also attacked the election commission and questioned its autonomy. He said, "If you (ECI) have to work only under the pressure of BJP goons, then why do you get elections done?"

कतारगाम AC मे जानबूझ कर वोटिंग स्लो कराया जा रहा है। @ECISVEEP इस तरीके से भाजपाई गुंडों के दबाव के ही काम करना है तो फिर चुनाव ही क्यो करवाते हो?

पुरे प्रदेश मे ओसत 3.5% मतदान हुआ है लेकिन कतारगाम मे सिर्फ 1.41 ही हो पाया है। एक छोटे से बच्चे को हराने के लिए इतना मत गीरो।

— Gopal Italia (@Gopal_Italia) December 1, 2022

However, the election commission and other political parties have not commented on his allegations yet.

The AAP leader is contesting the state assembly elections from the Katargam seat against the BJP's sitting MLA and minister of state for urban development Vinu Moradiya. The AAP leader belongs to Surat and was the face of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti.

The first phase of the Gujarat assembly elections is taking place today. The voting is to be held in 89 constituencies spread across 19 districts of Kutch, Saurashtra and South Gujarat.

In the first phase, 788 candidates are in the fray. A total of 2,39,76,670 voters will cast their votes by 5 pm today.

Out of the total number of electorates, 1,24,33,362 are males, 1,1,5,42,811 females and 497 are from the third gender. Over 4 lakh PWD voters are eligible to cast their votes.

Nearly 9.8 lakh senior citizen voters (80+) and nearly 10,000 voters who are 100 and above are going to cast their votes today.

There are 5,74,560 voters who are between 18 to 19 years of age while 4,945 voters are above 99 years of age. There are 163 NRI voters, of which 125 are men and 38 are women, according to the election commission.

There are 14,382 voting centres, out of which 3,311 are in the urban areas and 11,071 in the rural areas.

The BJP has been ruling in Gujarat for 27 years and is exuding confidence in retaining the state. The Congress and Aam Aadmi Party are looking to cash in on 'anti-incumbency' and issues like inflation and unemployment to get to power.