Rajasthan elections 2018: BJP gains strength after early setback

New Delhi: Counting of votes to elect a new Assembly in Rajasthan began on Tuesday morning amid tight security.

Initial trends showed the Congress taking an early lead in the state, with Congress Rajasthan president Sachin Pilot is leading from Tonk, reported ANI. However, the BJP gained strength after the initial setback and is currently leading in the state.

According to the Election Commission, counting is underway for 199 seats out of 200 assembly constituencies, the election for which were held on December 7.

"The counting began at the centres amid tight security arrangements," a spokesperson of the election department said.

As many as 35 centres have been set up in the state. Except for Jaipur and Jodhpur where there are two counting centres and each district has one centre.

"CCTV cameras have been installed at nearly 40 counting centres to keep a close watch on the counting process," the spokesperson said.

Polling took place in 15,687 polling centres across the 199 constituencies on December 7 and the state recorded a turnout of 74.21 %, a tally just short of the 75.23 % registered in the previous assembly election.

The BJP and Congress are the main political parties in the state. Both the parties have claimed that they will emerge victorious in the elections.

Among BJP's heavyweights whose fate will be decided on Tuesday is Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje. The outgoing chief minister is seeking re-election from Jhalrapatan assembly seat.

Among Congress's bigwigs in the fray is former chief minister Ashok Gehlot from Sardarpura and Rajasthan Congress chief Sachin Pilot from Tonk.

Several ministers and sitting MLAs are among other candidates whose fate will be announced.

The election in Alwar's Ramgarh constituency was postponed due to the death of the Bahujan Samaj Party candidate Laxman Singh and next date of the election will be notified later.

Read Exclusive COVID-19 Coronavirus News updates, at MyNation.