StatesRajasthan
Rajasthan votes today in first phase of zila parishad and panchayat samiti polls
Polling runs from 7 am to 6 pm across 16 districts and 2,392 wards. Gram panchayats vote on Saturday, but the results of today's contest will not be known until 20 November.
Key points
- The first phase covers 2,392 wards in 16 districts, from Jaipur and Jodhpur to Udaipur and Kota.
- Polling for zila parishad and panchayat samiti members runs from 7 am to 6 pm.
- Results for these seats are due on 20 November.
Voters in 16 districts of Rajasthan go to the polls on Thursday in the first phase of elections to zila parishads and panchayat samitis, the district and block tiers of the state’s rural local government.
Polling runs from 7 am to 6 pm across 2,392 wards. The districts voting in this phase are Ajmer, Alwar, Barmer, Bhilwara, Bikaner, Dungarpur, Jaipur, Jhalawar, Jodhpur, Phalodi, Kota, Nagaur, Pali, Rajsamand, Sirohi and Udaipur. Campaigning ended on Tuesday, and polling parties set out for their villages on Wednesday. Staff will stay on in the villages for five days and nights to run the gram panchayat polls that follow.
Jaipur in numbers
Jaipur district alone has 146 wards across eight panchayat samitis voting on Thursday, with 7,43,640 eligible voters and 797 polling stations. About 5,500 polling staff and more than 4,500 security personnel have been deployed there. Local officials said shade and drinking water had been arranged at booths, and electronic voting machines would be checked in front of candidates’ agents before voting begins.
Then the villages
Nominations for 3,314 gram panchayats close on Friday. Voting for ward panches and sarpanches will be held on Saturday, also from 7 am to 6 pm, and those results will be counted and declared the same day. Newly elected ward members meet on Sunday to choose deputy sarpanches.
Thursday’s zila parishad and panchayat samiti votes will not be counted for almost a month: their results are due on 20 November.
The rural vote comes in a tense week for state politics. Congress state president Govind Singh Dotasra and Leader of the Opposition Tikaram Jully began a sit-in at the Jaipur Police Commissionerate on Monday evening and spent Tuesday night there, demanding a separate FIR in Jaipur over an alleged assault on Ritu Barala in Delhi. Police said a case was already registered in Delhi.