E-Paper
Lone voter in Gir forest shows up to vote, says ‘100% voter turnout’
Bharatdas Bapu was the lone voter at a polling booth in Junagadh in the Gir forest in Gujarat.
One man’s vote in a remote place in Junagadh constituency in Gujarat ensured that the polling booth recorded a hundred per cent voter turnout in the third phase of polling in the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections in the country.
Senior citizen Bharatdas Bapu was the lone voter at a polling booth in Junagadh in the Gir forest, home to the Asiatic lion. The Election Commission had set up a booth only for the senior citizen to cast his vote.
“The Government spends money for this polling booth for one vote. I’ve voted and it’s 100% voter turnout here. For 100% voter turnout everywhere, I request all to go and vote,” ANI quoted Bapu as saying after voting.
Junagadh is one of the 26 Lok Sabha Constituencies which went to polls on Tuesday. The constituency consists of six assembly segments – Junagadh, Visavadar, Mangrol, Somnath, Talala, Kodinar and Una.
The BJP’s sitting MP Rajeshbhai Chudasama is up against Punjabhai Bhimbhai Vansh of the Congress whome he had beaten by 1.35 lakh votes in 2014.
The Lok Sabha elections in Gujarat have become a prestige battle for BJP after the Congress ran it close in the 2017 Assembly elections. BJP chief Amit Shah’s ‘Mission 150’ to win at least 150 assembly seats ran out of steam with the party managing to win 99 seats.
Shah is contesting from Gandhinagar for the first time in a Lok Sabha election. He replaced veteran L K Advani who the seat five consecutive times from 1998 to 2014.
