Rajasthan Assembly Polls: As it happened

Zee Media Bureau/Supriya Jha/Himanshu Kapoor 6:30 pm: Record turnout of 74.38 percent As the voting process proceeded peacefully, the Election Commission said there was record turnout of 74.38 percent. 4:00 pm: 53 percent voting recorded till 3 pm According to the website of the Chief Electoral Officer, Rajasthan, the voter turnout till 3 pm was reported to be 53 percent. 3:20 pm: Voter turnout 40% till 2 pm The average voter turnout recorded till 2 pm was 40 per cent, said a top election officer. Sriganganagar recorded a polling percentage of 46.55 per cent followed by Jhunjhunu 46, Jhalawar 37.63, Karauli 33.45, and Jaipur 35 pc, epots quoted a vhief election officer as saying. 3:00 pm: Junoon hai toh jeetoge, Sushma tweets As voting for 199 seats of Rajasthan was underway, BJP`s senior leader Sushma Swaraj in an inspiring tweet told the paty supporters that passion would fetch BJP the victory.

One message to BJP workers : Junoon hai to jeetoge

— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwarajbjp) December 1, 2013

01: 10 pm: Security men open fire in air The voting process in Rajasthan has proceeded peacefully except a couple of trivial incidents in Bharatpur (poll booth capturing bid) and Alwar. In Alwar, a bunch of anti-social elements tried to disrupt polling by trying to barge into the polling booth, said the police accoding to the reports. Reacting to the incident, security men "opened fire in the air in Jamdoli area", SHO Raini police station, Jairam, said, according to the reports. 12: 35 pm: Turnout of over 20% recorded The election Commission of the state said that over 18-20% of the voters had cast their votes by noon. 11: 45 am: Low turnout in initial hours Rajasthan recoded a low turnout of 8.24% in the early hours of voting, the state election commission said. The highest turnout so far was 12 per cent,recorded in Tonk, whereas SriGanganagar, Dausa, Jhalawar and Bikaner registered 11, 10.40, 9.56 and 9. 41 per cent turn out respectively, according to information provided by the state EC office, reports added.

11: 30 am: Booth capturing bid foiled in Bharatpur A bunch of people, allegedly the supporters of BJP MLA Anita Singh, stormed a polling station in Dhabak area in Bharatpur`s Nagar constituency, the PTI quoted the District Collector Neeraj K Pawan as saying. He added that the BJP MLA Anita Singh also threatened he polling officers, however she denied the reports. A similar booth capturing attept was made in Mawai area, reports said. 11: 00 am: Voters waiting to get rid of Congress, says Raje Having cast her vote at Topkhana school in Jhalawar, BJP`s Vasundhara Raje expressed confidence that the electorate of Rajasthan are waiting to get rid of Congress, and hence they will vote for the development. 10: 30 am: No Modi factor, Congress will win, says Gehlot After casting his vote at Jodhpur, the incumbent CM Ashok Gehlot sounded jubilant and said that the Congress will win the elections by a massive majority as there was no question of any Narendra Modi or Vasundhara Raje factor. “Congress will win by a massive majority, there is no competition, no Modi factor here”, said Gehlot according to reports. 10:00 am: Gehlot, Raje cast their votes Congress` Ashok Gehlot and BJP`s Vasundhara Raje were among the early voters who cast their votes at Jodhpur and Jhalawar respectively. While the Congess will aim to fight anti-incumbency to return back to power, the BJP will spare no stones unturned to cash in on the current government`s loopholes and win the polls. 9:20 am: Narendra Modi appeals for a large turnout as Rajasthan polls underway As Rajasthanis began casting their votes on Sunday, BJP’s PM candidate and Gujarat CM Narendra Modi in a tweet appealed to the electorate to turn out in record numbers.

As #Rajasthan goes to the polls today, urging my sisters & brothers in Rajasthan to turnout in record numbers & cast their vote.— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 1, 2013

8:00 am: Polling begins for 199 Assembly seats Voting began on Sunday at 8: 00 am for 200-seat Rajasthan assembly. As the voting for the Churu constituency has been postponed to Dec 13 due to the death of a Bahujan Samaj Party candidate Jagdish Meghwal, today the 40 million strong electorate of Rajasthan will decide the fate 199 seats only. Out of 2,087 candidates in the fray, 166 are women and one eunuch, who will cast their votes at 47,223 polling stations across the state. Votes will be counted Dec 8. Congress and BJP have fielded 200 candidates each, BSP 195, CPI(M) 38, CPI 23, NCP 16, other parties 666 and Independents 758 (including Churu Assembly constituency). Incumbent CM Ashok Gehlot is contesting from his home turf of Sardarpura seat in Jodhpur district and is pitted against BJP`s Rajput candidate Shambhu Singh Khetasar. Whereas, the BJP`s Vasundhara Raje will be confronting Congress` woman NSUI leader and former MLA Meenakshi Chandrawat on the Jhalarapatan seat in Hadauti region. Other than Gehlot and Raje, other main candidates are state Congress president Chandrabhan, Gujjar leader Prahlad Gunjal and Meena community leader Kirori Lal Meena.