Jaipur: Over 10 per cent voter turnout was recorded in the first two hours of voting Friday in the first phase of Lok Sabha elections held in 12 parliamentary seats in Rajasthan.
Polling began at 7am in the Lok Sabha constituencies of Churu, Nagaur, Ganganagar, Jhunjhunu, Bikaner, Sikar, Jaipur Rural, Jaipur, Alwar, Bharatpur, Karauli-Dholpur and Dausa.
Till 9 am, 10.67 per cent voting was recorded, officials said, adding that the highest of 14.14 per cent turnout was recorded in Ganganagar, followed by Alwar with 12.03 per cent.
Dausa recorded the lowest turnout of 9.70 per cent.
Voting will continue till 6pm.
According to Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Gupta, a total of 2.54 crore voters are set to vote in the first phase.
As many as 114 candidates are in the fray for the 12 seats.
ADG (law and order) Vishal Bansal said 23,000 polling booths have been set up and around 75,000 police personnel deployed to ensure law and order.
In the first phase, the number of sensitive booths is 10,000.
One of the key constituencies in this phase, Nagaur is set to witness a keen contest between Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) candidate and former MP Hanuman Beniwal in alliance with the Congress against BJP candidate and former Congress MP Jyoti Mirdha.
In the Churu Lok Sabha constituency, former BJP MP Rahul Kaswan is contesting as the Congress candidate against the BJP’s Devendra Jhajharia, a paralympic.
Dalit leader and Union minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, who has been representing the Bikaner Lok Sabha seat since 2009, is contesting the Lok Sabha elections for the fourth time. He is contesting against Congress candidate and former state minister Govind Ram Meghwal.
In Sikar, the Congress’ Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc partner CPI(M) has fielded former MLA Amra Ram against the BJP’s incumbent MP Sumedhanand Saraswati.
Sikar is the hometown of the Congress’ Rajasthan unit chief Govind Singh Dotasra. Of the eight assembly segments in Sikar, five are with the Congress.
PTI
