BCR re-polling held at four centres including Rajasthan HC Jaipur Bench under tight security after April 22 disruptions

Jaipur: Re-polling for the Bar Council of Rajasthan (BCR) elections was held at four centres on Monday from 8 am to 5 pm, after the original voting on April 22 was cancelled at these centres on account of disorder. The four centres where re-polling took place are the Rajasthan High Court Jaipur Bench, the Jaipur Sessions Court, the Jodhpur Sessions Court, and Raisingh Nagar in Sri Ganganagar district.

The Rajasthan High Court Jaipur Bench has the highest number of registered voters among the four centres, at 14,781. The April 22 voting at the Jaipur Bench was marked by allegations of irregularities and mismanagement, following which the polling was cancelled. To prevent a repeat, two separate booths were set up at the Jaipur Bench for Monday’s re-polling, and an additional police contingent was deployed.

Drawing lessons from the earlier disruptions, the High Powered Election Committee deployed a heavy police force outside all four polling centres. Campaigning was completely prohibited within a 200-metre radius of the polling centres, and mobile phones, cameras and other electronic devices were banned inside. Only authorised voters were allowed entry to the booths, and at the Rajasthan High Court Jaipur Bench, voters were permitted to enter only through Gate Number 3. A special committee of 20 senior advocates was constituted to assist with the conduct of the polls.

For the Jaipur Bench premises alone, around 350 police personnel were deployed for the election. Eighty CCTV cameras were installed across the campus for security and monitoring, and a live telecast of the proceedings was arranged on five LED screens. Police were also stationed inside the polling centre at the High Court.

After the close of polling, the ballot boxes will be transported to Jodhpur under tight security for counting, officials said.