The 200 assembly constituencies of Rajasthan are all set to cast their votes on Saturday after a high-decibel campaign by the parties that ended on Thursday with Congress focusing on the schemes of the chief minister Ashok Gehlot-led government, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) cornering the Congress on issues such as crime against women, appeasement, corruption and paper leak.
Polling will be held from 7am to 6pm in 199 out of 200 constituencies amid tight security arrangements, chief electoral officer (CEO)Praveen Gupta said. The state has 51,756 polling stations with around 52,538,659 voters– of whom –27,358,965 are men and 25,179,694 are women.
Around 2,220,913 are also all set to cast their votes this election. According to the election commission, 61,021 elderly and specially-abled people have already cast their votes through home voting, in the state’s first attempt for such a facility.
Rajasthan observed a significant 74.72% polling turnout in 2018 and on Saturday, the people of the state will decide the fate of 1,862 candidates across 199 seats.
Due to the death of the Congress candidate in Sriganganagar’s Karanpur seat Gurmeet Singh Koonar – also the sitting MLA – the election in this constituency has been adjourned.
However, a direct contest is likely to be seen between the ruling Congress and the BJP. While the Congress hopes to retain power by breaking the 25-year-trend of altering parties every election, the BJP is also all set to win the majority of seats to form the next government.
At present, Congress has 107 MLAs, BJP 70, Rashtriya Loktantrik Party- three, two each of Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Bhartiya Tribal Party (BTP), one from Rashtriya Lok Dal, and 13 are independents while two seats (Udaipur and Karanpur) are vacant.
On Friday, the candidates of all the parties were seen to be visiting door-to-door in their constituencies seeking votes. While the former chief minister and BJP candidate Vasundhara Raje visited dozens of temples at her constituency in Jhalrapatan, chief minister Ashok Gehlot also reached Jodhpur Friday morning to interact with the people at the last minute.
Gehlot also appealed to the people to reach the booths at a maximum number on the polling day. “I appeal to all the people to cast their votes on Saturday. It is your responsibility to carefully choose the party for Rajasthan. I am sure that the Congress has done a good job this time and our government will repeat,” he said.
Meanwhile, clashes between both parties were also reported in many areas on Friday.
The leader of the opposition and BJP’s candidate from Taranagar Rajendra Rathore took to X alleging that the local Congress workers tried to kidnap his election-in-charge Sushil Saravgi.
Bikaner police also detained one person for allegedly hitting the car of Kolayat MLA and Congress candidate Bhanwar Singh Bhati on Thursday late at night. The station house officer of Deshnok police station, Kashyap Raghave said, “The car that hit the MLA’s car had four people of whom one was detained while others including the driver Naval Kishore are yet absconding.”
Moreover, a purported video on social media showed Hindaun MLA Bharosi Lal Jatav’s car was allegedly stopped midway by a few people and got into a clash with Jatav and his aides. However, the local police have confirmed that no case has been filed on this matter so far.
Appealing for a peaceful election, director general of police (DGP) Umesh Mishra, said, “700 companies of para-military, home guards, and police personnel were deployed in the state. For the conduction of a peaceful and fair election process on Saturday, around 70 thousand police personnel, 18 thousand home guards, 2 thousand Rajasthan border home guards, 15 thousand home guards from different states, and 120 companies of RAC personnel have already reached across the booths and sensitive areas.”
CEO Gupta said that the sensitive booths were also facilitated with a webcasting system and around 1,300 quick response teams have been also deployed for additional protection.
The paramilitary checkposts were also set up at 276 inter-state areas to seize the transportation of illegal materials such as cash, liquor, drugs, etc, he said.
“Across the state, 65,277 ballot units, 62,372 control units and 67,580 VVPAT machines including reserves will be used for voting,” added Gupta.
Gupta said that to ensure free, fair, and peaceful conduct of assembly elections, 6,287 micro observers and 6,247 sector officers with reserves have been appointed, who will immediately resolve any kind of problem by continuously coordinating with the polling parties.
One additional EVM machine will also be given to all sector officers who will take action for repair and replacement if any EVM-related defect is reported, according to the Election Commission.
As many as 2,74,846 polling personnel will conduct the voting. 7,960 women polling personnel will take command at women-managed polling stations and 796 disabled polling personnel will take command at disabled-managed polling stations.
Meanwhile, encouraging maximum voting, the members of the Private Hospital and Nursing Society in Jaipur declared to provide free consultation to the patients who vote. They have also offered a 10% exemption in lab tests and surgeries in the private hospitals under the society.
Several traders’ organisations in the city have also announced a 10 to 40% discount on clothes and cosmetic jewellery if the customer can show the voting mark on their finger.
