Rajasthan by-election voting percentage: 62% turnout in Alwar, 65% in Ajmer, 77% in Mandalgarh
The voting began 8 am and will go on till 6pm. A total of 11 candidates are in the fray in Alwar, 23 in Ajmer and eight in Mandalgarh. More than 39 lakh voters will be able to exercise their franchise.
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BJP and Congress candidates for by election in Mandalgarh, Alwar and Ajmer constituencies of Rajasthan.
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6.09 pm: Voting percentage was the highest in Mandalgarh. 76.59% of voters cast their votes.
6.08 pm: Voting comes to an end. voting percent in Alwar reached 61.77. Voting percentage in Ajmer was 64.89 by 6 pm.
5.29 pm: Shatrughan Sinha is in Manda village of Kekari area in Ajmer. He is urging villagers to cast their votes after they boycotted voting, citing the lack of any development work in their area as the reason.
5.00 pm: Voting slowed down in Ajmer as well as Alwar parliamentary constituency. In the past nine hours, 59.31 percent of the voters cast their votes in Alwar, while 62.02% in Ajmer.
4.00 pm: The voting percentage reached 56.37 in Alwar by 4 pm. It was 56.86 in Ajmer. Alwar city – 48%, Rajgarh and Laxmangarh – 52%. Tijara – 62%, Ramgarh – 58%, Mundawar – 51%, Kishangarhbas – 59%, Behror – 58%, Alwar rural – 58%
3.30 pm: A groom surprised everyone at a polling booth in Ajmer by turning up to cast his vote right before he was to get married. He reached the polling booth with baraat dancing to the tune of band and baja. The groom was identified as Avinash Banjara.
3.30 pm: Two groups of Congress and BJP workers got into a verbal argument outside a polling both in Sarwad area of Ajmer. Voters intervened and rebuked them for disrupting peace.
3.00 pm: The voting percentage in Alwar by 3 pm was 51.17% while 50.88% in Ajmer. 61.99% voters had cast their votes in Mandalgarh by 3 pm.
1.29 pm: Voters boycotted polling at four different places in Alwar. The villages included Devkheda and Gugalkota. People in Devkhedra were angry because candidates didn’t visit their village during campaigning. Administration officers were urging voters to exercise their voting rights. There were reports of EVM malfunctioning at several booths in Alwar, causing delay in voting.
1.04 pm: 36.65% voters have cast their votes in Alwar in the past five hours. The voter turnout percentage in Ajmer is 35.72%.
12.00 pm: Voting turnout so far in Alwar is 28.13% and 28.43% in Ajmer. With just six hours for the voting to end, voters are turning up at polling booths to exercise their franchise.
11.00 am: The voter turnout so far in Ajmer is 20.14%, while 19.85% in Alwar, according to the Election Commission. Mandalgarh has reported a voter turnout of 19.3%.
10.50 am: Former MP and cabinet minister Jitendra Singh cast his vote at Moti Dungai polling booth in Alwar. Earlier, it was speculated that Jitendra Singh will be fielded by the Congress, but the party went with Dr Karan Singh Yadav.
10.45 am: Mandalgarh has reported a voter turnout of 15% so far.
10.30 am: The voting percentage by 10 am was 12.52 in Alwar and 12.42 in Ajmer, according to the Election Commission.
10.00 am: While Rajasthan education minister Vasudev Devnani was speaking to media persons outside the polling booth at Sant Ramdas School in Ramnagar area of Ajmer, some Congress workers started protesting. They said that it was violation of EC rules as Devnani was addressing the media within the periphery of 100 meters of the booth. It led to a verbal argument between Devnani and Congress workers. Police had to intervene.
Voting in Ajmer. Vasudev Devnani.
9.50 am: There were reports of malfunctioning in EVMs at many pooling booths in Ajmer city.
9.45 am: Rajasthan education minister Vasudev Devnani cast his vote at Sant Ramdas School in Ramnagar area of Ajmer. While talking to media persons, Devnani said that he was confident of BJP’s victory. For Ajmer parliamentary constituency, the main fight is between Raghu Sharma of Congress and Ramswaroop Lamba of BJP, but some other candidates including Manohar Gujjar of Hindustan Shakti Sena, advocate Ranjita Ravat of Akhil Bharatiya Aamjan Party and Shiv Bhagawan of Dalit Shoshit Pichhada Varg Adhikar Dal are in the fray. A total of 15 independent candidates are also fighting the elections. of them, eight are Muslim candidates including two women. The independent candidates are Insaf Ali, Kamla Rawat, Krishna Kumar Dadhich, Jagdish Bairwa, Gul Mohammed, Ganpat, Gajendra Singh, Danaram Meghvanshi, Naeem Khan, Mohammed Naseem, Mukesh Gaina, Peerdan Singh, Ravindra Singh Shekhawat, Shahid Khan, Shahjad Ali, Surendra Kumar Jain and Hamid Hussian.
Rajya Sabha MP Bhupendra Yadav voting
9.40 am: By 9 am, 5.41% voters had cast their votes in Alwar, while 5.23% in Ajmer, according to the Election Commission.
9.30 am: State cabinet minister Anita Bhadel cast her vote at a polling booth in Ajmer (South) parliamentary constituency. A lot of enthusiasm is being seen among the voters in Ajmer. Queues formed at several polling booths as soon as the voting started. The EC has declared a public holiday to ensure maximum voter turnout. Voting is taking place under heavy security arrangements as jawans of police as well as central security forces are guarding booths.
8.30 am: Rajya Sabha member Bhupendra Yadav reaches a polling booth in Ajmer to cast his vote.
8 am: Voting starts at all polling booths in three constituencies. Senior politicians from Congress and BJP appeal voters to exercise their franchise.
अजमेर, अलवर एवं मानडलगड़ की जनता से अपील है कि लोकतंत्र के इस पर्व में बढ़ चढ़ कर हिस्सा लें। अपना वोट जरुर डालें। चुनें एक ईमानदार और कर्मठ व्यक्ति को जो की सिर्फ जुमलेबजी नहीं, आपके काम कर सके।
— Sachin Pilot (@SachinPilot) January 29, 2018
12.01 am: The election commission has made all the preparations for the voting for by-elections in Ajmer and Alwar parliamentary constituencies and Mandalgarh assembly constituency.
The voting will take place from 8 am to 6pm. A total of 11 candidates are in the fray in Alwar, 23 in Ajmer and eight in Mandalgarh. More than 39 lakh voters will be able to exercise their franchise.
For the first time in the country, the EVM ballot papers will display the photos of the candidates fighting the elections. This will help voters avoid any confusion in case there are two candidates with the same name.
Chief electoral officer Ashwini Bhagat said all the preparations have been made to ensure that voting takes place in a transparent and unbiased manner. Security arrangements have been made for all the polling booths. Central security forces will be deployed. Micro observers have also been appointed. Voting will be monitored through videography, photography and webcasting at all sensitive and ultra-sensitive polling booths in the state.
The total voters’ count is 39,02,168 in the three constituencies. Of them, 18,27,936 voters are in Alwar, 18,42,992 in Ajmer and 2,31,241 in Mandalgarh.
The election commission has set up 1987 polling booths in Alwar, 1925 polling booths in Ajmer and 282 polling booths in Mandalgarh.
The voting will take place under webcasting surveillance at 140 polling stations in Alwar, 153 polling stations in Ajmer and 20 polling stations in Mandalgarh.
“Soliciting votes inside polling booths and within the periphery of 100 meters will be considered a criminal offense. In the three constituencies, sale or distribution of liquor has been completely prohibited,” said the officer.
Mock voting will be held at all polling stations in the presence of agents appointed by the candidates.
Special arrangements have been made to make the information regarding voter turnout available to people and the media after every one hour.
Polling officers have been asked to send the details of the voter turnout through SMS after every one hour. The details will be compiled and displayed on the election commission’s website www.ceorajasthan.nic.in.
In all the three constituencies, the fight will be between BJP and Congress candidates.
BJP fielded Jaswant Singh Yadav for Alwar parliamentary constituency, Ramswaroop Lamba for Ajmer parliamentary constituency and Shakti Singh Hada for Mandalgarh assembly constituency.
Congress declared Vivek Dhakar as its candidate for Mandalgarh and Raghu Sharma for Ajmer. The party declared Karan Singh Yadav as its candidate for Alwar.
Campaigning for the 29 January bypolls for the Lok Sabha seats of Alwar and Ajmer, and the Assembly seat of Mandalgarh ended on Saturday.
The ruling BJP and Opposition Congress held public meetings to woo voters in constituencies. Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje conducted road shows in Beegod (Mandalgarh) and Ajmer, while Rajasthan Congress chief Sachin Pilot addressed a gathering in Pushkar. Pilot, accompanied by several party leaders, also conducted a road show in Ajmer city.
The counting of votes will take place on February 1.
A few facts you should know:
Ajmer parliamentary constituency
Total polling booths: 1925
Total number of candidates: 23 (20 males and three females)
Total voters: 18,42,992
Security arrangements: more than 6000 jawans of police and central security forces
Micro observers: 285
Webcasting: 153 polling booths
Alwar parliamentary constituency
Total polling booths: 1987
Total number of candidates: 11
Total voters: 18,27,936
Security arrangements: more than 5000 jawans of police and central security forces
Micro observers: 128
Webcasting: 140 polling booths
Mandalgarh assembly constituency
Total polling booths: 282
Total number of candidates: 8 (7 males and 1 female)
Total voters: 2,31,240
Security arrangements: more than 100 jawans of police and central security forces
Micro observers: 53
Webcasting: 20 polling booths
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