Panchayat elections in Anand, Vadodara end peacefully

Vadodara/ Anand: Gram panchayat elections ended peacefully in central Gujarat on Sunday without any major hiccups. In Vadodara district, voting percentage crossed 76% by 5 pm as voting turnout increased in the final hours. Voting was around 56 % till about 3pm.
Elections in Vadodara district were held for 260 gram panchayats in Vadodara rural, Padra, Karjan, Shinor, Dabhoi, Waghodiya, Savli and Desar apart from by-elections that were held for two panchayats in Padra and Karjan talukas.
In Anand district too, voting was peaceful except for a couple of controversies.
Dharmaj resident Birju Patel complaint that the election officer was not ready to register his complaint of bogus voting. Patel alleged that name of one female had been wrongly entered into the electoral rolls even as her photo and voter identity number were not matching.
Voting for 180 gram panchayats in Anand district for panchayats in Anand (rural), Umreth, Borsad, Anklav, Petlad, Sojitra, Khambhat and Tarapur stood at 71.2% by 5pm on Sunday.
Dahod district, that has had a history of poll violence counted 75.5% voter turnout in the elections for 324 panchyats till 5pm.
Narmada district that has a tradition of high voting percentage clocked 78.4% voting on Sunday. In Mahisagar, Panchmahal and Chhotta Udepur districts too, polling was peaceful. Data, however, was not available till well after the process ended.