Jaipur:
Twelve of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan will go to polls on Friday in the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections. A Union minister is among the 114 candidates in the fray.
The elections will take place in twelve of the 25 Lok Sabha seats – Churu, Nagaurm, Ganganagar, Jhunjhunu, Bikaner, Sikar, Jaipur Rural, Jaipur, Alwar, Bharatpur, Karauli-Dholpur and Dausa – from 7am to 6pm.
A total of 2.54 crore voters will vote in the first phase on Friday, according to Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Gupta.
The Bharatiya Janata Party won all 25 seats in Rajasthan on its own in 2014, and in 2019, the NDA won 25 seats, the BJP 24 seats and the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party one seat.
One of the key constituencies Nagaur will witness a sharp contest between Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) candidate and former MP Hanuman Beniwal in alliance with Congress against BJP candidate and former Congress MP Jyoti Mirdha.
Beniwal, with the support of the BJP, defeated Mirdha, who was then a Congress candidate, in the 2019 elections. However, Beniwal split from the NDA in 2020 over the farmer's agitation issue.
In the Churu Lok Sabha constituency, former BJP MP Rahul Kaswan is contesting as the Congress candidate against BJP candidate and Paralympian Devendra Jhajharia.
Dalit leader and Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, who has been representing the Bikaner Lok Sabha seat since 2009, is contesting the Lok Sabha elections for the fourth time. He is contesting against Congress candidate and former state minister Govind Ram Meghwal.
In Sikar, the block partner of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), the CPI(M) has fielded former MLA Amra Ram against sitting BJP MP Sumedanand Saraswati.
Amra Ram was an MLA from Danta Ramgarh and Dhod seats.
Sikar is the birthplace of Congress' Rajasthan unit chief Govind Singh Dotasra. Of the eight assembly segments in Sikar, five are with the Congress.
During the election campaign, the ruling BJP focused mainly on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity and the work it was doing in various sectors, including infrastructure and programs like Ujjawala.
The party also promoted its Sankalp Patra and highlighted Modi's “guarantees”.
The BJP, which came to power in the state in December last year, also targeted the Congress over issues of corruption, paper leaks and crime against women during the rule of the erstwhile Congress government led by Ashok Gehlot in the state.
The party's campaign was led by Modi, who held several rallies in the state, including a roadshow in Dausa. Union Minister Amit Shah also held a roadshow in Jaipur.
BJP chief JP Nadda, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his Madhya Pradesh counterpart Mohan Yadav, and Defense Minister Rajnath Singh also addressed public meetings in the state.
On the other hand, the Congress raised the issues of misuse of central agencies like the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI against opposition leaders and said the Constitution and democracy were under threat under the BJP rule.
The grand old party also focused its election campaign on inflation and unemployment.
In its Nyay Patra, the party promised to fill 30 lakh vacancies in government jobs, one-year internship programs for young graduates and a legal guarantee on minimum support price for crops.
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, leaders Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, former chief minister Ashok Gehlot and other leaders held a series of campaign rallies for the party's candidates across the state.
The second phase of elections in Rajasthan will take place on April 26.
In the second phase, polls will be held in 13 Lok Sabha constituencies – Tonk, Ajmer, Pali, Jodhpur, Barmer, Jalore, Udaipur, Banswara, Chittorgarh, Rajsamand, Bhilwara, Kota and Jhalawar.
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