Lok Sabha polls in Rajasthan on Apr 17, 14

Polling for the Lok Sabha elections in 25 constituencies, including 4 reserved for SC and 3 for ST candidates, in Rajasthan will be held in two phases on April 17 and 24.
The first polling day in the state on April 17 will cover 20 Lok Sabha constituencies while the remaining five constituencies will go to polls on April 24, Chief Election Officer Ashok Jain said.
The 20 constituencies where polling will take place on April 17 are Ganganagar (SC), Bikaner (SC), Churu, Jhunjhunu, Sikar, Jaipur (Rural), Jaipur, Ajmer, Nagaur, Pali, Jodhpur, Barmer, Jalore, Udaipur (ST), Banswara (ST), Chittorgarh, Rajsamand, Bhilwara, Kota and Jhalawar-Baran.

The remaining 5 Lok Sabha seats -- Alwar, Bharatpur (SC), Karauli-Dholpur (SC), Dausa (ST) and Tonk-Sawaimadhopur will go to poll on April 24.
A total of 47,223 polling stations, including 37,685 in rural areas, will be set up for the elections and counting of votes will take place on May 16, he said.
For the first day of polling, notification will be issued on March 19 and the last date of filing nomination is March 26.

Scrutiny of nomination papers will be done on March 27 and the last date of withdrawal of nominations is March 29.
The notification for the second polling day will be issued on March 29, last date of nomination is April 5, scrutiny on April 7 and last date of nominations withdrawal is April 9, Jain said.

There are a total of 4.26 crore voters, including 1,00487 service voters in the state.
Of the total voters, around 14 lakh are in the age group of 18-19 years.
He said that all efforts will be made to increase voter turn out which was 48.41 per cent in the 2009 General elections.
"We target to achieve a voter turn out which should not be less than 75 per cent -- the turnout of 2013 assembly elections," he said.
"Awareness programmes and activities are being taken up on large scale to ensure maximum participation of voters, particularly young and new voters," he said.

He said identification of critical polling booths is going on so that elaborate and foolproof security arrangements can be made.