Ahmedabad, Dec 11: Atleast 60% of the electorate turned out to vote in the first phase of Gujarat Assembly elections on Tuesday. Voting came to a close at 5pm without any incidence of violence or disturbance. Polling took place for 87 seats of the Assembly.

In the first phase, voting is taking place on 87 Assembly seats, out of the total 182. Of these constituencies, 58 are located in the Saurashtra and the Kutch regions, and 29 in South Gujarat.

Around 1,78,77,771 voters (93,14,640 males and 85,63,131 females) will today seal the fate of 669 candidates, including 53 women, contesting for seats in South Gujarat and Saurashtra and Kutch regions. The Election Commission has set up 19,924 polling stations for voting and as many number of electronic voting machines have been put to use.

State Finance Minister Vajubhai Vala, who is contesting as a BJP candidate from Rajkot-II constituency, was among the first voters to cast their franchise.

Among those whose fate will be sealed in ballot boxes today include leader of the opposition in Gujarat Assembly, Arjun Modhvadiya. The fate of several BJP rebels, including Dhirubhai Gajera, who is fighting on a Congress ticket from Surat (North), will also be sealed today. Gajera cast his vote in Surat early this morning.

Balubhai Tanti, Bechar Bhadani and Bavku Undhad are some of the other rebels who are contesting on Congress tickets in the two-phased Gujarat election, which is largely a straight fight between the ruling BJP and the Congress-NCP alliance.

The fate of Cabinet ministers in the Narendra Modi government like Irrigation Minister Narrotam Patel (Chorasi), Energy Minister Saurabh Patel (Botad) and Finance Minister Vaju Vala (Rajkot-II) will also be sealed in the ballot boxes today.