Nearly 68 per cent of the 3.62 crore-strong electorate today turned out to vote in Rajasthan Assembly election that witnessed stray incidents of caste violence and malfunctioning of Electronic Voting Machines.
A Central Reserve Police Force jawan fired in the air to disperse a mob at Badikhera village under Ladpura constituency of Kota district but no one was hurt, director-general of state police K S Bains told PTI.
A supporter of former Minister and expelled Bharatiya Janata Party leader K L Meena allegedly opened fire at a group of Gujjar voters who were on their way to a polling booth near Balghat in Todabheem constituency injuring one person, officials said.
"The polling percentage is expected to be between 65 to 68 percentage as we are still compiling the figures," election
commission officials said. A 68 per cent turnout was registered in the 2003 Assembly elections.
There were 43,000 polling stations in 33 districts where 43,000 EVMs were used. Mechanical problems were reported in about 150 EVMs which were replaced immediately, they said.
Rajasthan Governor S K Singh and his wife Manju, who were the first to arrive to cast their votes at a polling booth in Jaipur's Hawasarak area, were among those stumped by a malfunctioning EVM and had to wait for about half an hour before another voting machine was brought.
"The person responsible for irregularity should be penalised", the Governor told reporters.
Chief Minister Vasudhra Raje, All India Congress Committee general secretary Ashok Gehlot and Pradesh Congress Committee president C P Joshi are among 2,194 candidates in fray for the 200 Assembly seats.
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