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Jaipur, November 11 (IANS) Voting is underway for the Anta assembly by-election in Rajasthan’s Baran district and 29.86 percent voting was recorded till 11 am on Tuesday. A total of 2,27,563 voters are eligible to cast their votes at 268 polling stations. Of these, 1,15,982 are male and 1,10,241 are female voters. Officials said 29.86 percent voting took place till 11 am as voting continued peacefully at all polling stations. There was 31 percent voting in Mangrol tehsil and 33 percent voting in Mangrol municipality. Queues of voters are visible at many booths and the voting percentage is expected to increase continuously, a local political leader said. Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma appealed in the morning, “First vote, then have refreshments”. He urged voters in the Anta by-election to cast their vote before anything else. In a social media post, he appealed to the residents to vote in large numbers for good governance and overall development of Anta. Sensing the sensitivity of seven polling stations, the local administration has declared them hypersensitive and deployed security forces. Security has been tightened at sensitive polling stations in Mangrol Municipality area. Teams of Rajasthan Police, RAC and paramilitary forces have been deployed in the ratio of 1:10 to ensure peaceful polling. Meanwhile, residents of Ganeshpura village initially boycotted the by-poll after their local demands were not met. However, later after persuasion by the administration, they agreed to participate in the voting. Since then, villagers have reached Bargaon polling station to cast their votes. Voting was halted for some time after 184 votes were cast due to technical fault in the EVM machine at polling station number 84 (Balunda village). A replacement machine was immediately ordered. Similarly, voting took place at station number 11 also. Polling 209 was halted for 30 minutes due to a glitch in the VVPAT, which was later resolved, allowing voting to resume. Voting began at 7 am and by 10 am, 14.09 percent voting was recorded. Voting was peaceful at all the booths. Voting will continue till 6 pm. In Sakli (polling station number 219), villagers had announced a boycott over unresolved local issues including the road to the crematorium, farm paths, pond beautification and playground. Senior officials of the district are talking to the villagers to resolve the matter. A total of 15 candidates are contesting in the Anta Assembly by-election. Major contenders include Morpal Suman from BJP and Pramod Jain Bhaya from Congress. The presence of independent candidate Naresh Meena has made the contest triangular. Meanwhile, voters have been barred from carrying mobile phones inside polling stations. To facilitate this, the district administration has made arrangements for depositing mobile phones at every polling station. Two volunteers with jute bags have been deployed at each center to collect mobile phones. Officials said that under this innovative initiative of the Election Commission of India (ECI), voters’ phones are being stored safely at the entry gate before voting. BJP candidate Morpal Suman cast his vote at polling station number 237 of Tisaya village. After voting, he said, “The public is eagerly waiting. This will be a historic election. My vision will remain the same and the public will ensure my victory.” The Election Commission has launched several themed and inclusive booths to encourage voter participation and awareness, including eight pink booths for women voters, a unique booth, designed with festive decorations at Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Anta, one based on the theme of a wedding ceremony and a booth set up at Molakhi village to ensure accessibility for differently-abled voters. Additionally, there are five green booths promoting environmental protection and free from single-use plastics, where eco-friendly messages are displayed to spread awareness. –IANS arch/dpb