JAIPUR: Voting for the first phase of Rajasthan’s urban local body elections began on Wednesday, with polling underway in 162 civic bodies across the state, including 18 urban local bodies in Jaipur district.
Polling commenced at 7 am and will continue until 6 pm, officials said. More than 20,000 candidates are contesting for 5,393 councillor seats in this phase, with a total of 20,623 candidates in the fray.
The first phase covers four municipal corporations, 27 municipal councils and 131 municipalities. The municipal corporations going to polls are Alwar, Bharatpur, Bikaner and Bhilwara.
As many as 57,52,278 voters are eligible to cast their ballots at 7,683 polling stations spread across the 162 civic bodies.
Technical problems with electronic voting machines (EVMs) were reported at some polling stations. In Alwar city, voters protested after an EVM malfunctioned, while glitches in Sawai Madhopur and Jodhpur resulted in long queues as voters waited for polling to resume.
In Jaipur district, voting is being held at 565 polling booths across 18 urban local bodies. These include Manoharpur, Phulera, Sambhar, Naraina, Kishangarh-Renwal, Shahpura, Dudu, Chaksu, Phagi, Jobner, Khejroli, Jamwaramgarh, Vatika, Kanota, Bassi, Bagru, Kaladera and Chomu.
Elections to Rajasthan’s 309 urban local bodies are being conducted in two phases, with the first phase held on September 9 and the second scheduled for September 11.
The counting of votes for councillor posts will take place on September 14.