About 59% voting till 5 pm in 12 Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan

About 59 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 5 pm Monday in 12 Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan where two former Olympians are among the 134 candidates in the fray.

The maximum voter turnout of 68.89 per cent was recorded in the Ganganagar (SC) seat.

Jaipur,Churuand Alwar recorded 63.89 per cent, 61.21 per cent and 60.99 cent polling, respectively, according to the website of the chief electoral officer of Rajasthan.

Polling began at 7 am in Ganganagar (SC), Bikaner, Churu, Jhunjhunu, Sikar, Jaipur rural, Jaipur, Alwar, Bharatpur, Karauli-Dholpur, Dausa and Nagaur seats.

The overall polling percentage in the 12 seats till 5 pm was about 59 per cent, as per the website of the state poll panel.

A total of 2.30 crore voters across these 12 constituencies are eligible to decide the fate of the 134 candidates, among whom 16 are women.

As many as 23,738 polling stations have been set up in the state for the smooth conduct of the polls.

The candidates contesting the election include two former Olympians, Union Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Congress' Krishna Poonia from the Jaipur Rural seat, former Union minister Arjun Ram Meghwal and ex-IPS officer Madangopal Meghwal from Bikaner.

While Rathore is banking on the Modi factor for his re-election from the Jaipur Rural seat and has highlighted national security as the key issue during the hustings, Congress MLA Poonia has been questioning the works of the sitting BJP parliamentarian.

The seat, which Rathore won in 2014 with a margin of 3.32 lakh votes, is dominated by the Jat community to which Poonia belongs.

Meghwal is facing a tough fight from his cousin and Congress candidate Madangopal Meghwal from the Bikaner seat