Over 18% polling till 10 am in Rajasthan civic polls

Over 18 per cent of the electorate cast their votes in the initial few hours in the first-phase polling in the Rajasthan civic elections on Thursday.

The polling began at 7.30 am in Jaipur, Kota and Jodhpur for Jaipur Heritage, Kota North and Jodhpur North municipal corporations amid tight security and special arrangements for Covid-19.

"A voting percentage of 18.30 was recorded till 10 am. Maximum voting percentage of 20.43 was recorded in Jodhpur and minimum of 16.91 per cent was recorded in Jaipur. The voting is going on peacefully," a spokesperson of the state election commission said.

The voting will continue till 5.30 pm.

More than 35.97 lakh voters will elect 560 ward councillors in two phases in the six newly-formed municipal corporations of Jaipur, Jodhpur and Kota (Jaipur Heritage, Jaipur Greater, Jodhpur North, Jodhpur South, Kota North and Kota South).

The first phase of polling will be held on Thursday in the Jaipur Heritage, Jodhpur North and Kota North municipal corporations, where over 16.54 lakh voters will cast their votes to elect 250 ward councillors.

There are 951 candidates in fray in the three municipal corporations in the first phase and 2,761 polling booths have been set up.

The second phase of polling will take place on November 1 and the counting of votes will be taken up on November 3.