Rajasthan: Voting begins for 199 assembly seats

According to the Election Commission officer, voting which started at 7 am will continue till 6 pm and this time 5,26,90,146 voters are eligible to decide the fate of more than 1,860 candidates in the fray on 199 seats.

It may be noted that due to the death of Congress candidate and MLA Gurmeet Singh Kunnar from Karanpur assembly constituency in Ganganagar district, the election in this assembly segment has been postponed.

Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Praveen Gupta said that polling is being held at 51,507 polling stations set up at 36,101 polling centers across the state.

He said that while 10,501 polling stations have been set up in urban areas, 41,006 are in the rural areas.

He said that in order to conduct free, fair and peaceful elections, 6,287 micro observers and 6,247 sector officers and reserves have been deployed, who will immediately resolve any kind of problem by continuously coordinating with the polling parties.

Gupta said that 2,74,846 polling officers have been deployed for voting. While 7,960 pink booths were being managed by female personnel, 796 polling personnel have been deployed for specially-abled voters.

He said that 1,02,290 security personnel, including CAPF, have been deployed to ensure peaceful voting. He said that 69,114 policemen along with 32,876 Home Guard, Forest Guard and RAC personnel and 700 companies of CAPF have been deployed.

He said that in order to conduct free and fair elections, three flying squads and three SST teams have been deployed in each assembly constituency for intensive investigation and monitoring on the voting day.

The CEO said that the 4,850 kilometer long interstate border with Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab has been sealed and intensive checking is being done to prevent the entry of outsiders.

It may be noted that along with the ruling Congress, nominees of the main opposition party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLPA), Aam Aadmi Party, Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram), Marxist Communist Party (CPI-M), Bharat Adivasi Party, Jannayak Janta Party candidates of about 80 parties including Bharatiya Tribal Party and around 730 independent candidates are in the fray.

Prominent candidates of the ruling Congress, include Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, state president Govind Singh Dotasara, Assembly Speaker CP Joshi, former Deputy CM Sachin Pilot, ministers Shanti Dhariwal, BD Kalla, Bhajan Lal Jatav, Vishvendra Singh, Bhanwar. Singh Bhati, Saleh Mohammad, Mamta Bhupesh, Pratap Singh Khachariyawas, Rajendra Singh Yadav, Shakuntala Rawat, Uday Lal Anjana, Ram Lal Jat, Mahendrajit Singh Malviya and Ashok Chandna.

Similarly, this time many Congress MLAs are also trying their electoral luck again. The party has fielded around 100 sitting MLAs.

Among prominent BJP candidates former CM Vasundhara Raje, Leader of Opposition Rajendra Rathore, Deputy Leader of Opposition Dr Satish Poonia, MP Diya Kumari, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Baba Balaknath, Kirori Lal Meena and Devji Patel and former Union Minister Subhash Mahariya are also trying their luck.

Apart from these, RLPA convenor and Nagaur MP Hanuman Beniwal is also contesting the assembly elections from Khinvsar. RLPA has entered into an electoral alliance with Chandrashekhar Azad led Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) and both are contesting 124 seats together.

While BJP is contesting on 199 seats, Congress has fielded 198 candidates and has left one seat Bharatpur for its ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) from where minister Subhash Garg is contesting.