Rajasthan Assembly Election 2023: Rajasthan is all set to vote on Saturday to elect members of a new assembly tomorrow. Polling will be held from 7 AM to 6 PM in 199 out of 200 constituencies amid tight security arrangements, chief electoral officer Praveen Gupta said. Election in the Sriganganagar’s Karanpur seat has been postponed due to the death of Congress candidate and sitting MLA Gurmeet Singh Koonar.
As many as 1862 candidates are in the fray with the number of voters being 5,25,38,105. These include 1,70,99,334 voters in the age group of 18-30, and of them, 22,61,008 are new voters in the 18-19 age group.
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Among the prominent candidates in fray for Rajasthan elections are: Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, his former deputy Sachin Pilot, 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.
In BJP, former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, leader of opposition Rajendra Rathore, deputy leader of opposition and former state president Satish Poonia, MPs Diya Kumari, Rajyavardhan Rathore, Baba Balaknath and Kirodi Lal Meena, Gurjar leader late Kirodi Singh Bainsla’s son Vijay Bainsla are also in the fray
At present, Congress has 107 MLAs, BJP 70, 3 RLP, 2 each of CPI (M) and Bhartiya Tribal Party (BTP), 1 Rashtriya Lok Dal, 13 are independents and two seats (Udaipur and Karanpur) are vacant.
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Polling stations for Rajasthan Elections:
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 centers will be monitored from the district level control room, he said.
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 that to ensure free, fair and peaceful conduct of assembly elections, 6,287 micro observers and 6247 sector officers with reserves have been appointed, who will immediately resolve any kind of problem by continuously coordinating with the polling parties.
One additional EVM machine will also be given to all sector officers who will take action for repair and replacement if any EVM related defect is reported.
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Wheel chairs have been arranged for voting at all the polling booths, taking advantage of which the disabled people and voters above 80 years of age can cast their vote without any inconvenience.
Security personnel for Rajasthan Elections:
A total of 1,02,290 security personnel have been deployed to ensure peaceful voting. A total force of 69,114 police personnel, 32,876 Rajasthan Home Guard, Forest Guard and RAC personnel have been deployed and 700 companies of CAPF have been deployed.
Three flying squads and as many Static Surveillance Teams (SST) will be deployed in each assembly constituency for intensive checking and monitoring on the voting day.
One additional FS and SST each will be deployed in expenditure sensitive polling stations on polling day. There will be availability of at least three QRTs at each polling station, he informed.
Sealing and checking action will be taken at the check posts along the 4850 km long interstate border with the states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab with the aim of preventing the entry of unwanted outsider elements.
Security arrangements have been tightened and more than 1,70,000 personnel including companies of central paramilitary forces (CRPF, BSF, ITBP, CISF, SSB, RPF etc.) and armed forces of 18 other states slated to be deployed.
DGP (Law and Order) Rajeev Sharma said more than 70,000 Rajasthan Police personnel, 18,000 Rajasthan Home Guards, 2,000 Rajasthan Border Home Guards, 15,000 Home Guards of other states (Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh), 120 RAC Companies will also be involved.