Lok Sabha elections Phase 5: Over 63% voter turnout recorded in Rajasthan

Over 63 per cent voter turnout was recorded at the end of polling in 12 Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan on Monday. The maximum voter turnout of 72.42 per cent was recorded in the Ganganagar (SC) seat. Jaipur recorded 68.85 per cent voting followed by 66.57 per cent in Sikar, 66.20 per cent in Alwar, 65.15 per cent in Churu, 61.85 per cent in Bikaner, 61.58 per cent in Jaipur Rural.

A voter turnout of 60.90 per cent was recorded in Nagaur, 60.51 per cent in Jhunjhunu, 58.82 in Dausa, 58.65 per cent in Bharatpur, 53.92 per cent in Karauli-Dholpur, according to the website of the chief electoral officer of Rajasthan. The overall polling percentage in the 12 seats till 6 pm was 63.45 per cent, as per the website of the state poll panel.The voter turnout is likely to change as many voters are still queued up at polling stations to cast their votes.

Polling began at 7 am in Ganganagar (SC), Bikaner, Churu, Jhunjhunu, Sikar, Jaipur rural, Jaipur, Alwar, Bharatpur, Karauli-Dholpur, Dausa and Nagaur seats. A total of 2.30 crore voters across these 12 constituencies were eligible to decide the fate of the 134 candidates, among whom 16 are women.

As many as 23,738 polling stations had been set up in the state for the smooth conduct of the polls. Among the candidates contesting the election include two former Olympians, Union Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Congress' Krishna Poonia from the Jaipur Rural seat, Union minister Arjun Ram Meghwal and ex-IPS officer Madangopal Meghwal from Bikaner.

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While Rathore is banking on the Modi factor for his re-election from the Jaipur Rural seat and has highlighted national security as the key issue during the hustings, Congress MLA Poonia has been questioning the works of the sitting BJP parliamentarian.

The seat, which Rathore won in 2014 with a margin of 3.32 lakh votes, is dominated by the Jat community to which Poonia belongs. Meghwal is facing a tough fight from his cousin and Congress candidate Madangopal Meghwal from the Bikaner seat.

From the Nagaur seat, BJP's alliance partner and former BJP leader Hanuman Beniwal, the founder of Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP), is contesting the election against Congress candidate and former MP Jyoti Mirdha.

Two 'sants', Sumedhanand Saraswati and Baba Balaknath, are trying their luck from Sikar and Alwar constituencies respectively. In Alwar, Congress candidate and former Union minister and ex-royal Bhanwar Jitendra Singh is in the fray.

In Dausa, both the BJP and the Congress candidates are women. The BJP has fielded former MP Jaskaru Meena against Congress candidate Savita Meena, the wife of sitting Congress MLA Murari Meena. Rajasthan has a total of 25 Lok Sabha seats and 13 of them went to polls on April 29.