The state had witnessed 66.25 per cent polling in the 2008 Assembly elections. However, no untoward incident has been reported from anywhere.
Till 2 pm, Sriganganagar had recorded highest 46.55% polling followed by Jhunjhunu 46, Jhalawar 37.63, Karauli 33.45, and Jaipur 35 pc. Churu constituency where elections were adjourned following death of the BSP candidate, will go to polls on December 13.
Congress and BJP are pitched in a tough battle. Senior leader Arun Jaitley has been in-charge of the BJP campaign as Vasundhara Raje is declared as the choice for chief minister if it wrests power. Its star campaigner and PM candidate Narendra Modi has been able to draw huge crowd in all his election rallies and public meetings in the state in last one month.
With anti-incumbency mood, and severe infighting, the ruling ruling camp had almost surrendered even before the game began. However, the tough criteria for picking candidates laid down by Rahul Gandhi, and high command’s decision to stick to it seem to have done the magic.
For the first time, Congress is able to check rebelion and has put up a united fight in its last ditch effort to snatch victory from the jaw of BJP. There were violations only in two cases — PCC chief Chandra Bhan and Meenakshi Chandrawat who is fighting Vasundhara Raje.
The party has nominated 21 women in the race. Congress has been traditionally banking on Jats, OBC and Brahmins. This time it has nominated Gopal Singh Shekhawat, a Rajput, and Jugal Kabra, a Marwari Bania as working presidents.
In a bid to boost its social engineering agenda, Congress has fielded six candidates from reserved category in as many seats in general category. The party has also offered tickets to leaders from extremely backward castes such as Suttar, Jangir and Dholi. For Scheduled Caste category, the party has preferred candidates from backward castes such as Valmiki, Khatik and Bairwah to others.
However, will checking rebellion be enough for the Congress to override the anti-incumbency factor and bring victory to the party for the second consecutive term? Brace up for December 8, the day of counting.
