Rajasthan assembly election 2023: Voting for the 199 seats in the Rajasthan assembly election is underway on Saturday, November 25. Polling in 199 out of 200 constituencies began 7am and will conclude at 6pm, while the counting of votes will be conducted on December 3.

While the ruling Congress, facing anti-incumbency, is eyeing another term of governance, the Bharatiya Janata Party, banking on the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is looking to replace the Ashok Gehlot government. Follow Live Updates on Rajasthan assembly election 2023

Top updates on Rajasthan assembly election 2023:

1. Chief electoral officer Praveen Gupta said Due to the death of the Congress candidate in Sriganganagar’s Karanpur seat Gurmeet Singh Koonar, also the sitting MLA, the election in this constituency has been adjourned.

2. A total of 5,25,38,105 voters will decide the fate of 1,862 candidates. 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.

3. Chief minister Ashok Gehlot, 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 and former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot are among the Congress leaders contesting the assembly election. Former chief secretary Niranjan Arya is trying his luck in politics as a Congress candidate.

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3. From the BJP, leader of opposition Rajendra Rathore, deputy leader of opposition and former state president Satish Poonia, former chief minister Vasundhara Raje, MPs Diya Kumari, Rajyavardhan Rathore, Baba Balaknath and Kirodi Lal Meena are in the fray. Gurjar leader late Kirodi Singh Bainsla’s son Vijay Bainsla is also contesting as BJP candidate.

4. The BJP has given tickets to 59 MLAs, including defected Congress MLA Girraj Singh Malinga and six Lok Sabha and one Rajya Sabha member, while the Congress has fielded 97 MLAs, including seven independents and one from BJP – Shobharani Kushwah who was expelled from the saffron party last year.

5. One of the main faces who joined the BJP from the Congress is former MP from Nagaur Jyoti Mirdha, who is contesting the assembly election. Nagaur MP and Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) convener Hanuman Beniwal is also contesting the assembly election. The RLP is contesting the poll in alliance with Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshiram) led by Chandrashekhar Azad.

6. The BJP is contesting on all seats, while the Congress has left one seat – Bharatpur – for its ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) like the 2018 election. The RLD currently holds the Bharatpur seat and Subhash Garg, who is the sitting MLA, is contesting the election as the party candidate.

7. Currently, the Congress has 107 MLAs, BJP 70, two RLP, two each of CPI (M) and Bhartiya Tribal Party (BTP), one Rashtriya Lok Dal, 13 are independents and two seats (Udaipur and Karanpur) are vacant.

8. Meanwhile, amid Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dig at the Congress over infighting, Ashok Gehlot, in a show of unity, on Friday posted a video on social media platforms in which Sachin Pilot is making an appeal to people to vote for the Congress.

9. Violence against women, paper leak scam, farmers’ suicides are some of the key issues that were highlighted by the opposition BJP to strike against the ruling Congress. Gehlot has reaffirmed that the Congress will return to power, putting an end to the three-decade-old alternating government trend in the western state.

10. Praveen Gupta said 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. Across the state, 65,277 ballot units, 62,372 control units and 67,580 VVPAT machines including reserves will be used for voting. As many as 1,02,290 security personnel have been deployed to ensure peaceful voting, Gupta added.

(With inputs from agencies)