67.78% voter turnout in Rajasthan

A voter turnout of 67.78 per cent was recorded in Rajasthan's 13 Lok Sabha seats that went to polls on Monday.

Barmer recorded the maximum voter turnout of 73.15 per cent, while the lowest voter turnout of 61.57 per cent was in Pali, Chief Electoral Officer Anand Kumar said at a press conference.

"Polling as of now is 67.78 per cent.... The voting turnout may be revised," Kumar said. "This is the highest voter turnout in the Lok Sabha election (in the state) so far." In the 2014 election, the voter turnout in these 13 seats was 64.27 per cent and the overall percentage was 63.11.

Barring a few incidents, Kumar said the election was held peacefully.

Three youths of the Kalbi community and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporters allegedly pelted stones at the car of the Congress' Jalore candidate, Ratan Dewasi, when he reached the polling station, police said.

Dewasi escaped unhurt, but his driver sustained minor injuries. Congress supporters also reached the spot after the incident, leading to an altercation, the police said.

Two incidents of damaging ballot units were reported in Barmer and Ajmer, and FIRs have been lodged. Malfunctioning of 49 ballot units, 49 control units and 305 VVPAT (voter verifiable paper audit trail) machines also occurred, Kumar said.

One polling officer died during the polling, apparently due to cardiac arrest, officials said. There polling officers died on Sunday -- two due to illness and the other after he fell from the roof of the polling booth, the officials said.

Despite scorching heat, voters came out of their houses and queued up in front of polling stations.

Barmer seat, where Congress' Manvendra Singh -- a former BJP MLA and the son of Jaswant Singh -- is contesting against the saffron party's Kailash Chaudhary, recorded the highest voter turn out of 73.15. Tribal-dominated seat of Banswara seat registered the second-highest voter turnout of 72.30 per cent.

Jodhpur, one of the most talked-about seats where Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's son, Vaibhav Gehlot, is fighting against Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhwat, registered a voting of 67.63 per cent.

The voting took place in 13 constituencies of Tonk-Sawai Madhopur, Ajmer, Pali, Jodhpur, Barmer, Jalore, Udaipur, Banswara, Chittorgarh, Rajsamand, Bhilwara, Kota and Jhalawar-Baran.

Former chief minister Vasundhara Raje's son, Dushyant Singh, contested from the Jhalawar-Baran seat, while erstwhile Jaipur royal family member and former BJP legislator Diya Kumari is in the fray from the Rajsamand seat.

About 2.57 crore people were eligible to vote at 28,182 polling stations in the 13 constituencies, where 115 candidates are in fray.