Rajasthan to go to Lok Sabha polls in two phases on April 19, April 26
Polls will be held in Sriganganagar, Bikaner, Churu, Jhunjhunu, Sikar, Jaipur, Jaipur Rural, Bharatpur, Karauli-Dholpur, Dausa, and Tonk-Sawai Madhopur in the first phase
Rajasthan’s 25 constituencies will go to the Lok Sabha polls in two phases on April 19 and April 26 and the results will be announced on June 4, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced on Saturday.
Polls will be held in Sriganganagar, Bikaner, Churu, Jhunjhunu, Sikar, Jaipur, Jaipur Rural, Bharatpur, Karauli-Dholpur, Dausa, and Tonk-Sawai Madhopur in the first phase. The rest of the 13 seats in southern Rajasthan including Ajmer, Nagaur, Pali, Jalore, Barmer, Jodhpur, and Udaipur will go to the polls in the second phase.
Over 50 million people are eligible to vote in the state across 51,756 polling stations. They include over 1.2 million above 80.
The state election commissioner Praveen Gupta said around 50% of the polling stations in the state will have a webcasting system for the first time, compared to 15% during the assembly polls in December. “People may also register their complaints through the C-Vigil app.”
Gupta said freebies, drugs, illicit liquor, and cash worth ₹280 crore have been seized from across the state in the last three months. The corresponding figure was only ₹51 crore at the end of the 2019 general election.
Former chief minister Ashok Gehlot asked people to vote for the Congress. “Kindly cast your vote to protest against the inflation, rising inequality, unemployment, and political corruption in the country and to protect our constitutional values,” he wrote on X.
“My appeal to all the people of the state is to guarantee justice to every section of the society by voting for Congress in the upcoming elections to be held in Rajasthan on 19th April and 26th April with the resolve of change.”
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept the Lok Sabha polls in the state in 2019, winning 24 of the 25 seats.
The assembly by-poll to Bagidora will also be held on April 26. The seat was left vacant after Congress lawmaker Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya resigned and joined the ruling BJP on February 21.