The by-elections for six Assembly constituencies in Gujarat concluded peacefully with average voter turnout of about 50.35 per cent at the close of the voting hours on Monday.

The polling was impacted by lack of enthusiasm in the urban and rural voters even as the ruling BJP and the Opposition Congress rushed to bring voters at the polling both in the last hour.

The Election Commission noted that the polling was peaceful across the six seats, barring some technical glitches in Kheralu, where voting was affected for about an hour. The voters there were given extra time till 7 PM.

The results of the by-polls will be out on October 24 and will change the seat composition in the 182-member State Assembly.

The by-polls were conducted at four seats in North Gujarat — Bayad, Kheralu, Radhanpur and Tharad, while two other seats were from Central Gujarat — Amraiwadi and Lunawada.

The BJP and Congress will wrestle it out in rural and urban regions. In North Gujarat, Congress turncoats, Alpesh Thakor and Dhavalsinh Jhala contested from Radhanpur and Bayad seats respectively. The duo had resigned from Congress party after cross voting in the Rajya Sabha polls in July this year.

The other four assembly seats fell vacant after the elected BJP MLAs contested Lok Sabha polls held in April this year and got elected from each seat. BJP had swept the Lok Sabha polls in the State by winning all 26 parliamentary constituencies.

About 14 lakh voters across six constituencies were listed by the EC and about 1,100 booths were set up for smooth polling process.

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