Over 68pc turnout in Rajasthan Assembly polls till 5pm

More than 68 per cent of the electorate in Rajasthan voted till 5 pm on Saturday in a virtually straight fight between the Congress and the BJP to elect the new state government. There are more than 5.25 crore registered voters in 199 seats while 1,862 candidates are in the fray.

Polling at more than 51,000 polling booths in 199 assembly constituencies began at 7 am and ended at 6 pm. Barring a few stray incidents of violence, the exercise passed off peacefully. Counting of votes will be done on December 3.

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Union ministers Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Kailash Chaudhary, former chief minister Vasundhara Raje and former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot were among the first ones to cast their votes.

In the last assembly elections in 2018, the state recorded a voter turnout of 74.06 per cent. The Election Commission has set a target of at least 75 per cent turnout in each constituency this time. Nearly 10 percent of the electorate cast their votes in the first two hours of voting and the figure went up to nearly 25 per cent by 11 am and to more than 40 per cent by 1 pm. The voting percentage till 5 pm was 68.24 per cent, an official said.

Polling in the Karanpur assembly constituency in Sriganganagar has been postponed due to the death of the Congress candidate. Two people - a polling agent of a candidate and an elderly voter - died of cardiac arrest at polling booths in Pali and Udaipur districts.

  The Election Commission had made elaborate arrangements to ensure smooth polling. More than 1.70 lakh security personnel have been deployed across the state. In Sanwler village of Kaman in Deeg district, two persons including a policeman were injured in stone-pelting. In Sikar's Fatehpur, two groups clashed and a jawan was injured in the violence.

The election in the desert state is a direct contest between the ruling Congress and the opposition BJP. The Congress is aiming to buck the trend of the ruling party being voted out every five years, while the BJP is eyeing a return in the state ahead of the Lok Sabha polls next year.

There is no anti-incumbency against the Congress and the party will form the government in the state again, Chief Minister Gehlot said in Jodhpur. "There seems to be an undercurrent. Looks like the (Congress) government will be repeated," he said.

In Jhalawar, Gehlot's predecessor Raje retorted, "I agree with him. There is indeed an undercurrent but in the favour of BJP. Lotus (BJP's poll symbol) will bloom on December 3." In Jodhpur, Union minister Shekhawat said, "BJP is coming to power with a huge majority. This time people will vote keeping in mind crimes committed against women, paper leak incidents and corruption during the five-year rule of the Congress."

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and several other leaders appealed to the people of Rajasthan to vote in large numbers.