Rajasthan polls: Voters walk miles through desert to cast votes

In Rajasthan's border districts of Barmer and Jaisalmer, people reached polling booths walking several miles through the desert to cast their votes Friday.

People here had to walk long distances as polling booths are located at far off places. Both the districts share border with Pakistan and is part of the Thar desert region.

Despite hardships, people from remote villages came out to vote with a noticeable number of women seen at the polling stations. One such voter is 101-year-old Pali Devi who voted at a booth in Barmer.

People of Rajasthan have been voting since 8 this morning for 199 seats of the state assembly.

In Bundi district's Hindoli area, 102-year-old Kisni Bai reached the polling booth with the help of a stick to cast her vote.

Voting started with delay of nearly an hour at Sathur and Mandi polling booths in Hindoli. In other areas of the districts, the pace of voting was slow resulting in long queues at most of the booths.

In Jodhpur district, long queues were seen outside several polling booths. An elderly priest who turned up to vote, said he voted for "dharam ki raksha" or protection of religion.

In Baran district, people in Sukhnair village of Chipabadaud stayed away from polling. They said they were not satisfied with any political party.

None of the parties showed concern for local issues, one of the villagers said.