Rajasthan, India

After weeks of an action-packed, high-voltage election campaign, polling began in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan at 7 am on Saturday (Nov 25). Elections are taking place on 199 out of 200 constituencies, with the counting of the votes scheduled for December 3.

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Polls were postponed on Sriganganagar's Karanpur seat after the incumbent candidate from the ruling Congress party died. Rajasthan elections are expected to witness the participation of a total of 5,26,90,146 voters, where the fate of 1,875 candidates will be decided.

Key constituencies

Among the constituencies, all eyes will be on Sardarpura, Tonk, Jhalarapatan, Nathdwara, Jhunjhunu, Jhotwara, and Churu among others.

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Sardarpura is where Chief Minister of the state Ashok Gehlot is contesting from. He has been winning this seat since 1998. The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded Mahendra Singh Rathore to take on Gehlot.

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Polling stations set up at 36,101 places

Earlier in the day, Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Gupta said that polling stations have been set up at a total of 36,101 places in the state.

"A total of 10,501 polling stations have been set up in urban areas and 41,006 in rural areas. Live webcasting will be conducted at a total of 26,393 polling stations. These polling centres will be monitored from the district-level control room."

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"Across the state, 65,277 ballot units, 62,372 control units and 67,580 VVPAT machines including reserves will be used for voting," he said.

BJP and Congress are key parties in the fray, with regional parties like CPI (M), RLP, Bharat Adiwasi Party, Bhartiya Tribal Party, Aam Aadmi Party, and AIMIM also trying their luck in some constituencies.

Key candidates

In BJP, leader of opposition Rajendra Rathore, deputy leader of opposition and former state president Satish Poonia, former chief minister Vasundhara Raje, MPs Diya Kumari, Rajyavardhan Rathore, Baba Balaknath and Kirodi Lal Meena are in the fray. Gurjar leader late Kirodi Singh Bainsla's son Vijay Bainsla is also contesting as BJP candidate.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, state Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra, assembly speaker CP Joshi, several ministers including Shanti Dhariwal, BD Kalla, Bhanwar Singh Bhati, Saleh Mohammad, Mamta Bhupesh, Pratap Singh Khachariyawas, Rajendra Yadav, Shakuntla Rawat, Udai Lal Anjana, Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya, Ashok Chandna and former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot are also in fray.

(With inputs from agencies)