 "Vote, elections, MCD polls")
The Rajasthan state Assembly elections 2023 will be held on November 25 (changed from November 23). The gazetted notification will be released on October 30. The vote count will take place on December 3.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) announced on Monday, along with the dates for four other state elections, including Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Chhattisgarh, and Telangana.
| Issue of notification | October 30 |
| Last date of nominations | November 6 |
| Scrutiny of nominations | November 7 |
| Last date of withdrawal of candidature | November 9 |
| Date of polls | November 25 |
| Counting of votes | December 3 |
52.5 million voters in Rajasthan
The EC stated that a total of 52.5 million voters have been registered in Rajasthan, with 27.3 million being male and 25.2 million female. Out of this, 2.204 million are first-time voters in Rajasthan. A total of six million first-time voters have been registered in total among all five election states.
EC has made efforts to bring more women, young voters, vulnerable groups, senior citizens, people with disabilities and the transgender community to the polls to make elections more inclusive.
The number of polling stations have been increased so that there is one every 2 km on average. There will be 17.7 million polling stations in total across the five states. This is to ensure that polling booths are more accessible to senior citizens (1.178 million voters over the age of 80 in Rajasthan) and people with disabilities (560,000 voters in Rajasthan). Rajasthan also reportedly has 17,241 registered voters above the age of 100.
The women-to-men ratio in the state has also improved to 920 (for every 1000 male) in 2023 from 914 in 2018.
Rajasthan
The Rajasthan Assembly has 200 constituencies, substantially representing the State Legislative Assembly. Out of these 200 seats, 34 constituencies are reserved for candidates from the Scheduled castes and 25 for the candidates from the Scheduled tribes.
The elections in the state have been dominated by the Indian National Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Both parties have alternatively ruled the state with Congress winning the last elections in 2018. Congress won 101 seats (39.9 per cent), BJP secured 73 seats (38.8 per cent), Bahujan Samaj Party took six seats, and regional and independent parties made the remaining 20 seats.
Both Congress and BJP are yet to announce their candidate list for the upcoming state Assembly polls in Rajasthan.
Aside from these two parties, there are several smaller regional parties and independent candidates contesting the elections.
Currently, Ashok Gehlot from the Congress party is the sitting Chief Minister. This was Gehlot's third term as chief minister in the state, he had previously held the position from December 1, 1998 - December 8, 2003 and December 13, 2008 - December 13, 2013.
Citizens can report electoral malpractices
The chief election commissioner stated that the citizens can report any kind of electoral malpractice through cVigil App.
"For every complaint, there will be a response in 100 minutes," he stated.
The Election Commission of India is an autonomous constitutional authority and is responsible for administering elections in the country. This includes conducting the elections for the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, State Legislative Assemblies, and offices of the President and Vice President in the country.
