In Rajasthan, voting has begun for 199 Assembly seats
As many as 1,863 candidates are running for the 199 Assembly seats in Rajasthan, and voting got underway early on Saturday morning.
The state’s more than 5.26 crore voters will determine the destiny of these candidates.
The polls opened at seven in the morning and will run until six in the evening. The results will be released on December 3.
Elections for the Karanpur assembly seat in Sriganganagar district have been postponed due to the death of Gurmeet Singh Kooner, a 75-year-old Congress candidate, at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi.
The two main contenders in the state are the opposition BJP and the incumbent Congress.
The outcome of the vote will also determine whether or not the state’s habit of often changing governments will continue this time around.
While former chief minister Vasundhara Raje is running from Jhalrapatan in the Jhalawar district, chief minister Ashok Gehlot is running from his customary seat, Sardarpura in Jodhpur.
Similarly, Congressman Sachin Pilot, a former deputy chief minister, is running from the Tonk seat, while Rajendra Rathod, the leader of the opposition, is running from Taranagar.
In this election, the reputations of other BJP MPs are also on the line. MP (Ajmer) Bhagirath Chaudhary from Ajmer’s Kishangarh; MP Devji Patel from Sanchore; MP Narendra Khinchar from Mandawa of Jhunjhunu; Baba Balaknath from Alwar’s Tijara; former Union Minister and MP Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore from Jaipur’s Jhotwara; and Rajya Sabha member Kirodilal Meena is running from Sawai Madhopur.
51,507 voting places have been put up across the state, 10,501 of which are urban and 41,006 of which are rural, according to Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Gupta.
There are 26,393 voting places with live webcasting going on. The district-level control center will keep an eye on these polling places.
Voting is being conducted across the state using 65,277 ballot units, 62,372 control units, and 67,580 VVPAT machines, including reserves.
He added that in order to guarantee a free, fair, and peaceful election process, 6,287 micro observers and 6247 sector officers with reserves have been selected. These individuals will promptly handle any issues that may arise by consistently working with the polling parties. Every sector officer will also get an extra EVM machine.
Every assembly will also have two engineers on hand to expedite the resolution of any EVM-related issues. These engineers will arrive at the centers as soon as they get information. According to him, each of these engineers would also get an extra EVM machine.
Gupta said that 2,74,846 poll workers will handle the vote. Up to 7,960 female poll workers will assume leadership roles in voting places run by women, while 796 handicapped poll workers will do the same in polling places run by people with disabilities.
He said that all polling places had wheelchairs available for voters to use, allowing elderly voters over 80 and those with disabilities to cast ballots without difficulty.
In order to guarantee a calm voting process, 1,02,290 security officers have been deployed, according to the Chief Electoral Officer.
In order to ensure a free and fair election process, each constituency will have three flying squads and three SST teams stationed there for close inspection and surveillance on election day.
