Gujarat Assembly elections 2017: Polling ends, 68.70 % voting recorded

Congress protests against PM Modi's "roadshow" after casting vote.

The voting for 93 seats in second phase for Gujarat Assembly Elections 2017 began at 8 am on Thursday.

The second and final phase of elections will see 93 assembly seats spread across 14 districts in north and central Gujarat going to polls. A total of 851 candidates are in the fray for the second phase, where 2.22 crore people are eligible to vote.

Gujarat witnessed high-decibel campaign in the past one week. Being the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and National president of ruling BJP Amit Shah, the Gujarat elections is being watched closely by people across the country.

Here are the live updates:

05:00 pm: Voting ends

04:05 pm: "It is a complaint which is is more anticipatory in nature which says crowd was there and this could be a roadshow," says Gujarat Chief Electoral Officer on MCC violation by PM Modi.

04:00 pm: EC says the allegation of violation of MCC by PM Modi is being enquired.

03:45 pm: Several Congress workers detained outside EC office in Delhi.

03:30 pm: Heavy security outside Election Commission.

03:20 pm: Congress leaders Ashok Gehlot and Randeep Surjewala to lead party protest outside Election Commission over PM Modi's "roadshow".

03:15 pm: Voter turnout till 2 PM is 47%

03:00 pm: BJP's Bhupendra Yadav says the same Congress had lauded EC's decision during Rajya Sabha polls.

02:50 pm: Congress leaders to take out protest march against EC

02:35 pm: Average voter turnout till 1:30 pm has been recorded at 44.30%.

01:45 pm: Senior BJP leader LK Advani casts his vote in Ahmedabad District's Jamalpur Khadiya

01:40 pm: "Allowing a roadshow of PM on voting day is a gross violation of code of conduct. It is an election campaign. What is the EC doing? The images on TV will leave no one in doubt that the BJP and PM have conducted a full-fledged campaign on polling day. Shocking violation of Rules. EC is sleeping on the job. Let the media look at the images on the TV screens, search its conscience and reach a conclusion. There has not been a more blatant violation of the code of conduct on polling day. Stand up Media, to this unprecedented violation of the code of conduct. Condemn the EC for allowing this gross abuse," tweets P Chidambaram.

01:22 pm: Narendra Modi has violated the Model Code of Conduct with his road show after voting. The Prime Minister of the country himself is doing it. It seems like the Election Commission is working under the PM and BJP's pressure," says Ashok Gehlot, Congress' national general secretary.

01:07 pm: Compared to phase 1, less than 50% cases of EVM replacements in phase 2. Our target remains to replace the faulty EVMs as soon as possible, said BB Swain, Gujarat Chief Electoral Officer

12:45 pm: Former Cricketer Nayan Mongia casts his vote in Vadodara's Akota. Seemaben Akshaykumar Mohile of BJP is contesting against Ranjit Sharadchandra Chavan of Congress

12:43 pm: 39% voting till 12 pm in second phase

12:20 pm: Out of total machines deployed for second phase of Gujarat Polls 1.63% VVPATs replaced after mock polls. 0.88 % Ballot Units and 0.86% Control Units also replaced: BB Swain, Gujarat Chief Electoral Officer

12:21 pm: PM Modi stands in queue at booth number 115 in Sabarmati's Ranip locality to cast his vote

11:59 am: BJP's sitting MLA Arvind Patel is up against Congress' Jitubhai Patel from the seat

11:52 am: Congress' Shaktisinh Gohil casts his vote in Gandhinagar.

11:30 am: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will cast his vote at booth number 115 here

11:11 am: Around 20% voter turnout recorded in second phase of polling till 10 am

11:08 am: At 10 am, average voter turnout in Anand district is at 13% and 11.77% in Patan district.

10:40 am: Deputy CM Nitin Patel casts his vote in Mehsana's Kadi. He is contesting against Congress's Jivabhai Patel

10:38 am: PAAS leader Hardik Patel casts his vote in Viramgam

10:31 am: 9.6% votes polled in Ahmedabad in first 2 hours

10:27 am: The EVM in Sankheda's Sodhaliya village in Chhota Udaipur was dysfunctional for 50 minutes, so voting was halted for that duration. We fixed the machine and now the voting is underway, said Gaurang Rana, Polling Officer

10:09 am: Arun Jaitley urged voters to turn up and excercise their right

09:49 am: Shankersinh Bapu casts his vote in Gandhinagar's Vasan village

09:37 am: Gujarat Congress president Bharatsinh Solanki is urging voters to turn up and excercise their right.

09:33 am: Three polling stations in Vadodara City have reported malfunctioning EVM machines. Election Commission officers have replaced the machines.

09:10 am: BJP President Amit Shah arrives to vote at Naranpura sub-zonal office. The Gujarat Elections is now a prestige battle for the party chief and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

08:29 am: PM Modi's mother Heeraben arrives to cast her vote in a polling booth in Gandhinagar

08:27 am: Former Gujarat CM Anandiben Patel casts her vote in Ahmedabad's Ghatlodia. BJP's Bhupendra Patel is up against Congress's Shashikant Patel on this seat

08:16 am: Voting underway in Viramgam's polling booth number 252. This is PAAS leader Hardik Patel 's home town.

08:12 am: Hardik Patel's parents pray as voting for second phase begins

07:55 am: Smallest and largest constituencies by area and by electorate in phase two of Gujarat Election 2017

07:43 am: Modi calls on Gujarat citizens to exercise their voting rights.

07:41 am: Congress President-elect Rahul Gandhi asked people of Gujarat to come out in large numbers and exercise their right to franchise

7.15 am: Voting for the second phase of Gujarat Assembly elections 2017 to begin shortly.

Top political leaders in India PM Modi as well as main Opposition Congress party's president-elect Rahul Gandhi literally left not a single stone unturned in their respective poll campaigns.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, L K Advani and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley are among the saffron heavyweights expected to exercise their franchise in the second phase of the elections.

In the first phase, 66.75% of the 2.12 crore voters cast their votes to elect 89 legislators from amongst 977 candidates on December 9.

While the BJP has fielded 93 candidates, Congress has 91, Shankarsinh Vaghela-led All India Hindustan Party has fielded 46, Sharad Pawar's NCP has 28 and Shiv Sena has 17 candidates in the fray.

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