The polls were held in 87 constituencies across 14 districts of Saurashtra, Kutch and South Gujarat in the first phase of polling in Gujarat on Tuesday.

However, former chief minister of Gujarat Suresh Mehta who quit the party on December 8, cast his vote along with his family in Mandvi in Kutch district.

BJP MP from Surat also cast his vote in Surat but made his resentment against Modi apparent to the media. He claimed that the people of the state were wise and will vote accordingly.

The polling that started at a slow pace on Tuesday morning picked up and about 25 per cent voters had cast their votes through about 19,900 polling booths by afternoon. By 4pm the voting had already reached about 55 per cent. Navsari district with 64 to 66 per cent voter turnout registered the highest voting percentage whereas Jamnagar and Bhavnagar districts with 52 to 54 per cent voting had the lowest turnout. Gujarat had a turnout of 61 per cent in the Assembly elections in 2002.

Chief electoral officer, Vinod Babbar, claimed that the polling in the state was peaceful apart from few incidents of poll-related violence in Rajkot city.

In the Babra seat, from where BJP leader Bavku Unghad is contesting on a Congress ticket, a police complaint was lodged for an attempt to kidnap Unghad.

Mr Unghad was allegedly surrounded by unknown people but his bodyguards fired in the air forcing the mob to flee and rescued him.

In the Choriasi constituency in Surat district cross complaints were filed by the BJP and the Congress candidates for allegedly displaying party symbols within the prohibited areas during polling.

An entire village in the Dwarka constituency in Jamnagar district boycotted the polls in protest against the failure of the government to construct a school, which was a longstanding demand of the village.

This is the first time that election has been held in two phases in Gujarat and the second phase of elections in 95 constituencies will be held on December 16.

FIRST PHASE EXIT POLLS

Cong gains, BJP loses
New Delhi, PTI: Exit polls after the first phase of polling in 87 assembly constituencies of Gujarat on Tuesday night projected Congress making impressive gains and ruling BJP suffering reverses but one of them showed the saffron party retaining power in the state.

While the survey by Star News poll said Congress will get 37 seats, a gain of seven, the NDTV poll showed that the party will get 43 seats, up by 13 from its 2002 poll tally in South Gujarat and Saurashtra where elections were held.

The NDTV survey put the BJP tally at 40, a loss of 13 seats while Star News gave the saffron party 48, five less than what it got in the last elections.

The overall projection of Star News was 115 seats for the BJP, down 12, 64 for Congress, a gain of 13 and three for others.

The NDTV poll left out one seat in Central Gujarat.