Rajasthan votes

Jaipur:  Voting for 20 Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan began Thursday as voters lined up at polling booths early to beat the heat, officials said.

Over 34 million electorate, including over 16 million women, are eligible to vote in this phase at 38,835 polling stations where a total 192,000 poll officials have been deployed.

As many as 239 candidates are in the fray.

Rajasthan will see two phased polling. This is the first round of polling and the second phase will take place April 24.

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In the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress party had won on 20 seats and the BJP on four seats. One seat had gone to an independent candidate.

The former Bhartiya Janata Party stalwart Jaswant Singh is contesting the election as an independent from Barmer against Col. Sona Ram of the BJP and Harish Chaudhary of the Congress.

Congress leader and and Ajmer sitting MP Sachin Pilot is re-contesting the seat against Sanwar Lal Jat of the BJP.