Lok Sabha elections 2019: Record turnout in Rajasthan despite scorching temperatures

Rajasthan chief electoral officer Anand Kumar said the turnout was highest in any Lok Sabha election in the state.

Rajasthan recorded 67.99% voting on Monday as 13 out of its 25 constituencies went to polls in the fourth phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

Polling was largely peaceful with three incidents of clashes between groups in Jalore and Barmer. Glitches in EVMs and the Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail were reported from some places, leading to replacement of 49 EVMs and 305 VVPAT machines.

Rajasthan chief electoral officer Anand Kumar said the turnout was highest in any Lok Sabha election in the state.

Polling was largely peaceful with three incidents of clashes between groups in Jalore and Barmer. Glitches in EVMs and the Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail were reported from some places, leading to replacement of 49 EVMs and 305 VVPAT machines, Kumar said.

Four polling personnel died on the voting day in Rajsamand, Udaipur, Ajmer and Jodhpur, the CEO added. A presiding officer in Kota constituency was suspended when he was found drunk during duty at a polling booth.

More than 68,000 security personnel, including 140 companies of central armed police forces, 21,000 home guards, 1,000 forest guards and 1,980 border home guards, were deployed across state for peaceful voting.

In Barmer, the general observer of the election commission of India issued an appeal on social media to people to not disclose whom they have voted for. “Not maintaining secrecy of your vote can land you in jail for 5 years,” Sunil Kumar said after pictures of VVPAT machines after voting began circulating on social media in the district.

The 13 Lok Sabha constituencies lie in the Marwar, Mewar and Hadauti regions of the state.

Jodhpur and Barmer are the most keenly watched electoral battles. In Jodhpur, chief minister Ashok Gehlot’s son Vaibhav Gehlot is making his debut against BJP’s Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. In Barmer, Congress leader Manvendra Singh is taking on BJP’s Kailash Choudhary, who has been an MLA in the last Assembly. Singh is the son of BJP’s founder member and former external affairs minister Jaswant Singh.

In the last general election, the BJP won all the 25 Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan. In Assembly poll, the Congress bagged 100 out of the 200 seats and the BJP got 73.

The ruling party in the state is looking to ride on the assembly poll win to better its tally in the national election this time.

The BJP hopes to buck the trend that the party which wins the assembly election gets a majority of the Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan