Campaigning ends for 13 remaining Lok Sabha constituencies of Rajasthan

Jaipur, Apr 24 (PTI) Electioneering ended Wednesday evening in Rajasthan for the 13 remaining seats, including two constituencies where former chief ministers campaigned for their sons.
    Polling in the second phase of Lok Sabha elections -- the final one for Rajasthan -- will be held on Friday. Voting took place on the other 12 seats on April 19.
    Among the 152 candidates in the fray in this phase are two Union ministers, the BJP state president and a former Assembly Speaker.
    In addition, bypolls will be held for the Bagidora Assembly seat, which fell vacant after sitting Congress MLA Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya joined the BJP. Malviya is contesting the Banswara Lok Sabha seat as the BJP candidate.
    Other than the Banswara parliamentary constituency, Barmer-Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Jalore, Chittorgarh and Kota-Bundi are the hot seats in this phase.
    The other constituencies going to polls are Tonk-Sawai Madhopur, Ajmer, Pali, Udaipur, Rajsamand, Kota and Jhalawar-Baran. Voting will be held on April 26 from 7 am to 6 pm.
    On the last day of campaigning, Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut held a roadshow in Jaisalmer in support of BJP candidate Kailash Chaudhary.
    Located along the India-Pakistan border, Barmer-Jaisalmer is the largest Lok Sabha constituency of Rajasthan. It is witnessing a triangular contest among Independent candidate Ravindra Singh Bhati, the Congress' Ummedaram and the BJP's Kailash Chaudhary.
    Bhati, 26, is an Independent MLA from the Sheo constituency of Barmer district.
    Former chief minister and Congress leader Ashok Gehlot's son Vaibhav Gehlot is contesting the Lok Sabha election from Jalore.
    Ashok Gehlot focused most of his campaigning on this seat and is likely to make it a tough contest for the BJP's Lumbaram, a grassroots-level leader.
    Vaibhav lost his first Lok Sabha election in 2019 to the BJP's Gajendra Singh Shekhawat from Jodhpur.
    After Barmer-Jaisalmer, all eyes are on Jodhpur, where BJP candidate Shekhawat is facing a neck-and-neck fight with the Congress' Karan Singh Uchiarda.
    While Shekhawat is contesting from Jodhpur for the third time after winning the seat in 2014 and 2019, it is the maiden Lok Sabha fight of Karan Singh.
    BJP national vice-president and former chief minister Vasundhara Raje remained focused only on the Jhalawar-Baran Lok Sabha seat throughout the campaigning phase. Her son and sitting MP Dushyant Singh is contesting this seat against Congress candidate Urmila Jain, a Zila Pramukh and wife of former minister Pramod Jain Bhaya.
    In Kota-Bundi, sitting MP and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla is facing a stiff challenge from the Congress candidate Prahlad Gunjal.
    The tribal-dominated Banswara seat is witnessing an interesting contest as the Congress pledged its support to Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) candidate Rajkumar Roat, days after its own candidate entered the fray. The Congress' Arvind Damor did not withdraw his nomination and said he would contest the election with "full strength".
    The Congress decided to support the BAP because its veteran tribal leader Malviya joined the BJP in February and was given a ticket.
    Former Rajasthan Assembly speaker C P Joshi is contesting the Lok Sabha election from Bhilwara as the Congress candidate against the BJP's Damodar Agarwal.
    BJP state president Chandra Prakash Joshi is contesting from Chittorgarh for the third time. Former minister Udailal Anjana is the Congress candidate for this seat.
    After low voter turnout in the first phase of the Lok Sabha election in Rajasthan, while the BJP intensified its campaigning in the state, no national leader of the Congress held rallies here.
    A Congress leader, however, attributed this to the shortage of time.
    Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed public meetings in Jalore, Banswara and Tonk and Union Home Minister Amit Shah was in Bhilwara, Kota and Pali for public rallies and in Udaipur for a roadshow.
    Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath conducted roadshows in Chittorgarh, Rajsamand and Jodhpur, his Haryana counterpart Nayab Saini held rallies in Barmer and Jodhpur and Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut conducted roadshows in Pali, Jodhpur and Jaisalmer in support of BJP candidates.
    Rajasthan has 25 Lok Sabha seats. The BJP won all the seats in 2014 and in 2019, the state saw a clean sweep by the NDA.
    An official of the election department said campaigning ended at 6 pm on Wednesday.
    As per the regulations, there will be no public meetings or processions in connection with the election.
    Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Gupta said violation of these provisions will invite punishment of imprisonment of up to two years or a fine or both.
    The Election Commission has directed that any political person who is not a voter or a candidate of a constituency or is not an MP or an MLA cannot stay in that constituency after the election campaign is over.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)