Phase 5: Rajasthan to go to polls on May 6

The fate of as many as 134 candidates including two former Olympians, two bureaucrats, two former union ministers will be decided on May 6 in Rajasthan, with 12 Lok Sabha seats going to polls.

Out of 12 Lok Sabha constituencies, Jaipur Rural, Bikaner, Dausa and Alwar are the keenly-watched constituencies. In Jaipur Rural, Olympian shooter Rajyawardhan Rathore and discus thrower Krishna Poonia have locked horns. While Singh is banking on Modi's clout and Rajput votes, Poonia is relying on the Jat community she hails from. The constituency is dominated by Jat voters. Caste equation plays an important role here.

The second interesting seat is Nagaur constituency which will see a division of Jat vote bank. Here the Congress party has fielded Jyoti Mirdhi, who was an MP in 2009 as well. She is the grand daughter of Nathu Ram Mirdha, a stalwart in the Jat community. The BJP has fielded its alliance partner Hanuman Beniwal of RLP , who also has a good fan following among Jats.

The third interesting yet crucial seat, Alwar, infamous for three alleged lynchings of dairy farmers over suspicions of cow smuggling, is set to witness a tough battle between erstwhile royal and former Union minister Bhawar Jitendra Singh and Mahant Balaknath of the Rohtak-based Asthal Bohar Math.

The Congress is banking on schedule caste voters and Muslims, while trying to make inroads in the Yadav vote bank that traditionally supported of the BJP.

In Dausa, both the BJP and the Congress candidates are women. While the BJP has fielded former MP Jaskaru Meena, the Congress has given ticket to Savita Meena, wife of party MLA Murari Meena.

Rajasthan has 25 lok sabha seats, of which 13 faced polls in the fourth phase on April 29. In the fifth phase, polling will be held in Ganganagar, Bikaner, Churu, Jhunjhunu, Sikar, Jaipur Rural, Jaipur, Alwar, Bharatpur, Karauli-Dholpur, Dausa and Nagaur.

A total of 2.3 crore voters will vote in these 12 constituencies, in 23,783 polling stations. "Preparations have been completed. Adequate security arrangements have been made to ensure free-and-fair polling," state Chief Electoral Officer Anand Kumar said.