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Home voting in Rajasthan for first phase of Lok Sabha elections starts today
In a first, the Election Commission announced 'vote-from-home' facilities for citizens above 85 years and persons with disabilities for the Lok Sabha elections.
Home voting for the first phase of Lok Sabha elections in Rajasthan is set to start from today. More than 58,000 voters in Rajasthan have opted for home voting of which 35,542 people have registered for the first phase of Lok Sabha elections, state's chief electoral officer Praveen Gupta said last week.
The home voting facility has been extended to senior citizens above 85 years of age and voters with over 40 per cent disability. Gupta had said that the initiative of home voting has been taken to make the elections more inclusive. (Also Read: Modi kicks off eastern push of poll campaign)
Of 35,542 registered voters for the first phase of Lok Sabha polls in Rajasthan, 26,371 are senior citizens and 9,171 are persons with disabilities, according to Gupta.
"So far, over 58,000 eligible voters have opted to vote from home. These include 43,638 senior citizens and 14,385 persons with disabilities," the chief electoral officer said.
The registration for home voting in the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections was to be completed on March 27. The returning officers were to share the list of registered home voters with all recognised political parties and candidates by April 1. (Also Read: Willing to contest all 4 Lok Sabha seats in HP if Congress hesitant: AAP leader)
Special polling teams will be formed to conduct home voting and their training will be completed by April 4. These teams will reach the residences of registered home voters in the presence of political parties and their candidates to conduct voting through postal ballots.
In the first phase, home voting will be conducted from April 5 to 14.
The registration for home voting for second phase of elections completed on April 2. For the second phase, about 22,500 eligible voters had registered for 'vote from home' till March 27, of which 17,324 were senior citizens and 5,222 voters with disability. (Also Read: BJP’s decision to campaign for NPP in Meghalaya hits state unit hard)
Home voting in the second phase will take place from April 14 to 21.
The success of the home voting initiative was evident during the 2023 Rajasthan Assembly elections, where an overwhelming 99 per cent of registered voters exercised their franchise through this method. This included 49,650 senior citizens (aged above 80) and 11,774 persons with disabilities, Gupta said.
Lok Sabha elections in Rajasthan
Rajasthan is voting in two phases – on April 19 and April 26.
In the first phase, voting will be held in 12 Lok Sabha constituencies – Ganganagar, Bikaner, Churu, Jhunjhunu, Sikar, Jaipur Rural, Jaipur, Alwar, Bharatpur, Karauli-Dholpur, Dausa and Nagaur. The remaining 13 seats of Tonk-Sawai Madhopur, Ajmer, Pali, Jodhpur, Barmer, Jalore, Udaipur, Banswara, Chittorgarh, Rajsamand, Bhilwara, Kota and Jhalawar-Baran will go to polls in the second phase.
