Gandhinagar, 8 April - The Gujarat government has announced May 7 as a paid holiday for the state's employees. This decision, made under the authority of 135 (B) (1) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, is in light of the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections scheduled to be held on that day.
On May 7, voters will cast their ballots for all 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat, as well as for five assembly seats. The paid holiday will apply to employees in factories, the commercial sector, banking, and other sectors across the state. The circular issued by the government ensures that registered voters in the Lok Sabha constituency will receive paid leave, even if they work outside the constituency.
In addition to the Lok Sabha seats, by-elections will be held in the Vijapur (26), Khambhat (108), Waghodiya (136), Manavadar (85), and Porbandar (83) assembly constituencies.
The Gujarat Assembly currently has 181 members, with the BJP holding 156 seats, Congress 17, AAP 4, independents 2, and 1 SP MLA. Six MLAs, including four from Congress, one from AAP, and one independent, resigned post the 2022 elections. By-elections are now taking place for the remaining five seats, except for the Visavadar seat.
Gujarat has a total of 4.96 crore voters, including 11,75,444 voters aged 18-19, who will be voting for the first time. The number of voters above 80 years old is 10,01,448, with 10,000 voters above the age of 100. Banaskantha Lok Sabha seat has the highest number of young voters at 67,504, followed by 35,609 in Ahmedabad East and 25,257 in West. The highest number of voters above 80 years old is in Vadodara Lok Sabha seat at 50,000, followed by 24,131 in Surat. The state has 25,21,642 voters aged 70-79 and 51,14,283 voters aged 60-69. The number of voters between 20-29 years old is 1,03,33,083.
The number of female voters in Gujarat is 14,66,696 less than male voters. However, no constituency among the 26 Lok Sabha seats has fewer female voters than male voters. The state has 25,54,367 male voters and 24,07,697 female voters. There are 4,20,925 voters above the age of 85.
