Rajasthan polls: Voting for 199 seats underway; can Congress buck anti-incumbency or will BJP return?
Rajasthan,Nov 25 : Polling began Saturday morning for the 199 assembly seats in Rajasthan where the BJP is going all out to wrest power from the Congress which hopes to beat the state’s anti-incumbency tradition.
“Polling began at 7 am today. A total of 51,507 polling booths have been set up across the state,” Rajasthan’s chief electoral officer Praveen Gupta said.
Rajasthan has a total of 200 assembly seats but polling will be held on 199 seats as the election in the Karanpur seat of Sriganganagar district was postponed following the death of Congress candidate Gurmeet Singh Koonar.
There are 5,26,90,146 voters in the 199 assembly constituencies. The results of the polls will be declared on December 3.
Some of the key faces among the 1,862 candidates in the fray include Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot (Sardarpura), former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot (Tonk), state PCC chief Govind Singh Dotasra (Lachhmangarh), former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje of the BJP (Jhalrapatan), RLP convenor Hanuman Beniwal (Khinvsar).
More than 1.70 lakh security personnel have been deployed across the state. 70,000 Rajasthan Police personnel, 18,000 Rajasthan Home Guards, 2,000 Rajasthan Border Home Guards, 15,000 Home Guards from other states (Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh), and 120 RAC Companies have been deployed for the day.
Congress in its manifesto promised to double the insurance sum under the flagship Chiranjeevi health insurance from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 50 lakh, 10 lakh jobs including 4 lakh government jobs and continue the Old Pension Scheme. It has also laid thrust on conducting a caste census if voted back to power.
As no political party has retained power in Rajasthan for the last 25 years, Congress is hoping to buck the trend banking on Gehlot’s welfare schemes and promises made in its manifesto while the BJP seeks to oust what it claims to be a “corrupt” government by vociferously raising issues concerning farmers, women and youth.
Since 1998, the Congress and BJP have been coming to power in the state alternately after every five years. While the ruling Congress is hoping that it will retain its government in Rajasthan, the opposition party BJP is eyeing a return in the state ahead of the Lok Sabha polls next year.
Both parties have repeated most tickets, contrary to the claims made in the selection of candidates. However, analysts believe that this time there is neither any wave nor any anti-incumbency against the government. It is believed that like last time, this time too, the key to power will be in the hands of the voters of 39 seats of eastern Rajasthan.
-PTI
