Rajasthan Assembly poll: Over 69% voter turnout recorded
Jaipur: Rajasthan recorded over 69% voter turnout in Assembly polls held on Saturday.
A total of 1,862 candidates were in the fray, with 5.25 crore voters, including 1.71 crore aged 18 to 30 and 22.61 lakh new voters in the 18-19 age group.
Voting started at 7 am today for 199 out of 200 seats in the state and continued until 6 pm.
However, the election in the Karanpur seat of Sriganganagar was halted due to the demise of Congress candidate and incumbent MLA Gurmeet Singh Koonar.
In the 2018 elections, the Congress fell just one seat short of the majority by securing 100 seats, while the BJP won 73.
The BJP's count had decreased drastically from an absolute majority of 163 in 2013.
Rajasthan voters have not voted any government into a second term since 1993, and the BJP is relying on this historical trend along with Prime Minister Modi's popularity to regain power.
Although former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, the party's arguably most popular leader in Rajasthan, has not been officially declared the chief ministerial candidate.
To ensure peaceful voting in this single-phase election, over 1 lakh security personnel were deployed. Vote counting is scheduled for December 3.