Rajasthan Assembly polls: 68.24 pc voter turnout recorded till 5 pm

JAIPUR: Rajasthan recorded 68.24 per cent voter turnout till 5 pm in the state Assembly polls which is underway on Saturday, the Election Commission informed.

According to the Election Commission, Bagidora recorded a voter turnout of 78.21 per cent whereas the capital city Jaipur recorded 69.22 per cent. Jaisalmer recorded 76.57. Ganganagar recorded a voter turnout of 72.09 per cent. Till 5 pm, the maximum voter turnout has been recorded in the Pokaran constituency with 81.12 per cent.

Earlier Rajasthan had recorded 55.63 per cent polling for 199 assembly constituencies till 3 pm. The polling for the Karanpur assembly constituency was adjourned following the death of Congress candidate Gurmeet Singh Koonar.

A total of 5,26,90,146 voters will decide the fate of 1,875 candidates, including 183 female contestants, at a total of 51,507 polling stations in the assembly constituencies. The Bharatiya Janata Party candidate and former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje is contesting from Jhalarapatan.

The party's heavyweight has been winning the seat since 2003 from here. Among the highly discussed seats is Tonk, where Congress' prominent leader and former Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan Sachin Pilot will take on BJP's Ajit Singh Mehta.

In 2018, Pilot defeated the BJP's Yoonus Khan by a margin of 54,179 votes. Moreover, Rajasthan Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra has been pitted against BJP's Subhash Mehria in the Lachhmangarh constituency.

Earlier, the Chief Electoral Officer had said that a total of 1,02,290 security personnel have been deployed to ensure peaceful voting.

A total force of 69,114 police personnel, 32,876 Rajasthan Home Guard, Forest Guard and RAC personnel have been deployed and 700 companies of CAPF have been deployed. In 2018, the Congress won 99 seats, while the BJP won 73. Gehlot assumed the CM position with the support of BSP MLAs and independents.