Jaipur:

A voter turnout of close to 58 per cent was recorded in 12 parliamentary constituencies of Rajasthan where polling was held in the first phase of Lok Sabha elections on Friday.

There was no untoward incident during polling in the state, an official said.

The voting percentage on these seats in the 2019 polls was 63.71.

Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Gupta said an estimated 57.87 percent voting (including 0.61% postal ballot) has been recorded in the 12 LS constituencies which went to polls in the first phase.

A total of 2.54 crore people were eligible to vote in the first phase and around 23,000 polling booths were set up, he said.

The officer said the final voting percentage would be available on Saturday after data from all the polling booths are received and complied.

Mr Gupta said there were long queues of voters at polling stations at many places even after 6 pm, the scheduled voting closure time.

Voters started arriving in large numbers at polling stations in urban and rural areas from 7 am onwards to exercise their franchise. There was a steady stream of enthusiastic voters at the polling stations throughout the day.

The highest voter turnout of 65.64 per cent was recorded in the Ganganagar Lok Sabha seat. In 2019 LS election, the voter turnout here was 74.39 percent.

Karauli-Dholpur saw the lowest turnout of 49.29 per cent, against 55.06 percent in 2019.

Jaipur recorded a poll percentage of 62.87. The voting percentage in Bikaner was 53.96, Churu 62.98, Sikar 57.28, Jaipur Rural 56.58, Alwar 59.79, Dausa 55.21, Bharatpur 52.69, Jhunjhunu 51.62 and Nagaur 56.89.

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

Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra, Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma, former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot and other leaders cast their votes in the initial hours. Mishra and his wife Satyawati Mishra cast their votes at a polling booth at C Scheme.

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

The chief minister exercised his franchise at a polling station at Patnik Jagatpura and expressed confidence that the NDA will win over 400 seats across the country in this general election. He said the people of the state were voting for ‘guarantees’ of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

On the other hand, Pilot said people want change and this election was going to be for a change in the country.

“The BJP had a long tenure of 10 years. Now people are bored and I am convinced that the Congress will win more seats than the BJP in Rajasthan. We will win across the country and the INDIA bloc will get a majority,” he told reporters after casting his vote.

Deputy Chief Minister Diya Kumari also cast her vote in this phase.

Former BJP state president Satish Poonia cast his vote at a polling booth in Rani Sati Nagar in Jaipur during the day.

Elderly citizens and some newly married couples were also seen at the polling booths.

Shivani, a resident of Dampura village in Dholpur district, reached her polling booth before entering the wedlock. Dressed in bridal attire, she also got herself photographed at a ‘selfie point’ after casting her vote.

In Jaipur, a 95-year-old retired naval officer reached a polling station with his family members to vote. He said although he could have chosen the ‘voting from home’ option, he preferred to cast his vote at a polling station.

Newlywed Rohit and Sonia Chaudhary went to a polling station in Jaipur’ Purani Basti to cast their votes. They got married on Thursday night.

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

Villagers say that after delimitation, the village had to remain deprived of development.

Former village sarpanch Rameshwar Gora said that the village lacks means of transportation and other basic amenities and development. “We have been boycotting every election continuously for 4 years,” he said.

Rajasthan Director General of Police Utkal Ranjan Sahoo said tight security arrangements have been made for free, fair and peaceful voting. The Rajasthan Police, along with companies of the Central Armed Forces and Home Guard personnel, has been deployed to maintain peace and law and order.

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