THE TIMES OF INDIA, AHMEDABAD MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2015 3TIMES CITY

Ahmedabad: Bopal and Ghuma are-as on Sunday saw some enthusiasticvoting since morning. Most voterswho cast their votes hoped that theirareas will be merged into Ahmed-abad Municipal Corporation (AMC)limits. By 5 pm, Bopal-Ghuma nagar-palika saw a voting of 63.56%.

For the past six years, residentsof Bopal and Ghuma have been tiredof the highly saline bore water andhave been demanding dedicated Nar-mada water connections as well as adedicated drainage system.

It was in February this year thatboth Bopal and Ghuma were mergedto form a nagarpalika.

Sanjay Shekhawat, a resident ofSun City in South Bopal, said, “Bo-pal-Ghuma being made a nagarpali-ka does not make sense. People herecan pay taxes at par with Ahmedabadand in that case we should be part of

Ahmedabad civic grid.” Shekhawat’s opinion was echoed

by Samarth Trivedi of Ghuma whoadded, “In 2013 a development planfor Auda limits was brought out bythe government. How can you expecttwo different types of civic bodiesrun by two different political bodies,one for Ahmedabad city and theother for Bopal-Ghuma nagarpalika,

co-ordinate for a uniform develop-ment. We are part of Ahmedabad ci-ty.”

There was enthusiasm among vo-ters in Bopal’s Sterling City, ArohiBungalows, Shivalya Society and Ka-dam Society.

Another important factor that in-fluenced voting in Bopal and Ghumaon Sunday were the Patidar groups.

The nagarpalika has 35% Patel vo-ters.

Ghuma saw mobilization by Pati-dar community as well as the OBCcommunity belonging to Mota Tha-korvas, Chunarvas and Narayanfarm. Bopal-Ghuma nagarpalika isprobably the only nagarpalika whe-re the Independents have all groupedbefore the election under one um-brella 'Bopal-Ghuma Vikas Paris-had' (BGVP).

The area had witnessed riotingafter August 25 Patidar anti-reserva-tion rally. If one were to scan candi-date list of 93 aspirants in the nagar-palika polls, 44 candidates were Pa-tels contesting on various party tick-ets and even as an Independent.

Of the 44 Patel candidates, 18 outof the 21 Independents contesting asBGVP panel were Patels, while theBJP fielded 18 Patel candidates andthe Congress fielded only eight Patelcandidates.

64% voting in Bopal-GhumaVOTING TREND

Total voters

37,819Men who voted

12,722Women voted

11,315Voting

63.56%

Wards in Bopal-Ghuma Nagarpalika that polled highest

Total wards | 9

Ghuma

Ward 1 | 71.6 %

Ward 3 | 70.49%

Bopal

Ward 5 | 66.75%

Ward 7 | 65.31 %

Ward 6 | 64.38 %

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad: Barring anincident of police firing atBagasra in Amreli and inci-dent of private firing in Da-hod, the second phase, vo-ting for municipality, talu-ka and district panchayatelections passed of peace-fully. However, the state go-vernment has decided to re-tain bandobast till countingof votes on December 2.

Top police sources saidthey will retain a few compa-nies of central paramilitaryforces (CPMF) till countingof votes.

“Four companies, whichis nearly 400 hundred ja-wans of Rapid Action Force(RAF) will be deployed in thejurisdiction of Police Com-missioners while 100 jawanswill be deployed in dis-tricts,” said a senior policeofficial.

Bandobast to stay till counting

Apart from Tulipschool fiasco

where voters foundtheir names missing,similar incidents werereported from BKMschool. The pollingofficer at this boothsubmitted a list of 118voters whose nameswere missing. TNN

What wentwrong

Irani to open GIAN at IIT-Gn:Union HRD minister Smriti Iraniwill inaugurate Global Initiativeof Academic Network (GIAN), at IIT-Gandhinagar on Monday.

I have voted forBopal’s inclusionwithin AMC limits

beforethe nextelec-tions. Ihope thegovern-ment willconsiderthis

Chitrangana | STUDENT

A team of Nav-rangpura Policecaught twoyouths - HarshBharwad andRishabh Bagadi-ya — with apistol and ascooter duringvehicle checkingon Saturday. OnSunday, policegot one-dayremand of theduo and haveestablished thatthe scooter wasstolen for whicha complaint waslodged .

PUNCH-NAMA

Duo caughtwith pistol

It’s time we getNarmada drinking

watersupply,drainageand anefficientgarbagedisposalsystemin Bopal

Mickey Arora | HOUSEWIFE

I have voted forthe ruling partybe-

causeGhumaneeds toaugmentits civicinfras-tructureas more residentialareas have come up

Naman Joshi | BUSINESSMAN

TIMES NEWS NETWORK