Jaipur:

Voting for the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections was held on Friday in 12 parliamentary constituencies in Rajasthan, with a turnout of nearly 58%.

An official said there were no incidents during voting in the state.

The turnout for these seats in the 2019 polls was 63.71.

Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Gupta said the turnout in the 12 LS constituencies that went to polls in the first phase was estimated at 57.87 per cent (including 0.61 per cent postal votes).

He said that in the first phase, a total of 2.54 billion people are eligible to vote and about 23,000 polling stations have been set up.

The official said the final voting percentage will be announced on Saturday after data from all polling stations is received and compiled.

Gupta said there were still long queues at polling stations in many places even after 6pm, the scheduled voting cut-off time.

Starting at 7 a.m., large numbers of voters began to pour into urban and rural polling stations to exercise their right to vote. Throughout the day, there was a steady stream of enthusiastic voters in front of the polling stations.

Ganganagar Lok Sabha seat recorded the highest turnout of 65.64%. In the 2019 LS election, the voter turnout rate here was 74.39%.

Karauli-Dolpur had the lowest turnout at 49.29%, compared to 55.06% in 2019.

Jaipur’s poll rating is 62.87. The turnout in Bikaner was 53.96, Churu 62.98, Sikal 57.28, Jaipur Rural 56.58, Alwar 59.79, Dausa 55.21, Bharatpur 52.69, Jhunjhunu 51.62 and Nagaur 56.89.

As many as 114 candidates are competing in the first phase of Fbikaner elections. Rajasthan has 25 Lok Sabha seats and the remaining 13 seats will go to the second phase of voting on April 26.

Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra, Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma, former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot and other leaders took the vote within the first few hours. Mishra and his wife Satyavati Mishra cast their votes at the Plan C polling station.

“Voting is not only a constitutional right but also a duty of every citizen of India. This strengthens democracy,” the governor said later.

The chief minister exercised his franchise at a polling station in Patnik Jagatpura and expressed confidence that the NDA would win over 400 seats across the country in this election. He said the people of the state were voting in favor of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “assurance”.

On the other hand, Pilot said people want change and this election will change the country.

“BJP has been in office for ten years. Now people are bored and I believe Congress will win more seats than BJP in Rajasthan. We will win nationally and Bloc India will get majority seats,” he told reporters after the vote.

Deputy Chief Minister Dia Kumari also voted during this phase.

Former BJP state president Satish Punia casts his vote at a polling station in Rani Sati Nagar, Jaipur during the day.

Senior citizens and some newlyweds were also seen at the polling station.

Shivani, a resident of Dampura village in Dholpur district, reached the polling station before her wedding. After voting, she also took photos at the “selfie spot” wearing a bridal outfit.

In Jaipur, a 95-year-old retired naval officer came to the polling station to vote with his family. He said that while he could choose the “vote at home” option, he would prefer to vote at the polls.

Newlyweds Rohit and Sonia Chaudhry went to cast their votes at a polling station in Purani Basti, Jaipur. They were married Thursday night.

However, people of Palawala Jatan village in Dausa Lok sabha constituency boycotted the elections due to lack of development works in the area.

Villagers said that after the demarcation, the village was still deprived of development.

Former village Sarpanch Rameshwar Gora said the village lacked transportation means and other basic facilities and development. “For four years we have been boycotting every election in a row,” he said.

Rajasthan Police Commissioner Utkar Ranjan Sahu said strict security measures have been taken for free, fair and peaceful voting. The Rajasthan Police along with Central Armed Forces and National Guard personnel have been deployed to maintain peace, law and order.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)