Rajasthan: 199 seats go to polls today amid tight security

Jaipur, Dec 1: Polling for 199 of the 200-seat

assembly began Sunday morning amid tight security, an official said.

The election has been postponed in Churu constituency to Dec 13 following the death of a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate.

"The voting began at 8 am at 47,223 polling booths spread across the state. The polling will continue till 5 p.m. and we have made elaborate security arrangements for peaceful polls," an official of the Rajasthan Electoral Office told IANS.

The election in Churu constituency was postponed due to death of a BSP candidate

Over 10,000 polling stations have been declared sensitive and critical and security measures have been beefed up in these areas.

In all, over 1.19 lakh security personnel have been deployed in the state to conduct peaceful and fair elections.

Over 40.8 million (4.08 crore) voters, including around 2.15 crore male and 1.93 crore female voters, are expected to exercise their franchise to decide the fate of over 2,087 candidates, including 167 women candidates, who are in the fray.

The fate of the chief minister and Congress leader Ashok Gehlot, former chief minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vasundhara Raje, the state Congress president Chandrabhan, Gujjar leader Prahlad Gunjal, who is fighting on a BJP ticket, and Meena leader Kirori Lal Meena, who now is contesting on National Peoples' Party ticket, hangs in balance.

The Congress and the BJP are fighting on all 200 seats, while the National Peoples Party on 150 and BSP on over 100 seats.

The state is likely to witness a keen tussle between the BJP and the Congress. The Congress under the leadership of Ashok Gehlot is trying to record a second consecutive term in power.

In the outgoing house, Congress holds 102 seats and the BJP 79.

It has always been a two-party contest in the state. This time, however, Mayawati's BSP and NPP are trying to make a dent in the vote bank of both the major parties.

The BSP had won only 6 seats it contested in 2008 elections and all of its MLAs later joined the Congress.

While the Congress raised the issue of development that Rajasthan had seen in the last five years, the BJP spoke about corruption and bad governance.

The BJP also targeted the United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre on price rise and it's in ability to curb corruption.

Political analysts are divided over who will win the election.

"There does not seem to be an undercurrent for any party, so it has become difficult to predict. But one thing is sure that these polls would be a close elections with rebels, NPP and BSP creating problems for both the BJP and the Congress", said Ravi Goswami, a political analyst.

IANS