Rajasthan, Telangana Elections: The counting of votes for both Rajasthan and Telangana will take place on December 11.

NEW DELHI: Rajasthan and Telangana are voting today in the last of state elections before the December 11 results that are seen as a big test for political parties as they gear up for the 2019 national polls. For the ruling BJP, the important battle is in Rajasthan, where it hopes to buck the two-decade trend of the incumbent losing power. In Telangana, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao is facing the Congress and N Chandrababu Naidu – political rivals who have come together for the first time. A victory for the alliance will boost the opposition ahead of the national elections. A voter turnout of 22 per cent was recorded till 11 am in Telangana. In Rajasthan, a 22.2 per cent turnout was seen till 9 am. The counting of votes both the states will take place on December 11, along with that of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram.

Here are the top 10 updates on Telangana and Rajasthan elections:

1. There were reports of voting machine malfunctioning in a few of parts of Rajasthan. Voting was put on hold at two polling booths in Jalore following protests by voters after reported malfunctioning of voting machines.

2. The Congress, which is hoping to capture power in the state, claims there is huge anti-incumbency. In the last round of by-elections in February, the party wrested the Ajmer and Alwar Lok Sabha seats and the Mandalgarh assembly seat from the BJP. Congress election in-charge Sachin Pilot said the state government’s report card is “appalling and no matter how much Amit Shah-ji and Modi-ji come and campaign, they cannot dissociate themselves from the governance that Vasundhara-ji has given”.

3. “I don’t have any regrets. I don’t because there is nothing that I could’ve done differently,” said Vasundhara Raje.

4. Over 51,000 polling booths have been set up in 199 out of the total 200 assembly constituencies in Rajasthan where polling is going on amid tight security.

5. In Telangana, caretaker chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao sounded confident about his party returning to power with a “huge majority.” There is a “very, very positive” mood among voters towards the party, KCR, as Mr Rao is popularly known as, told reporters in Chintamadaka, his village where he voted.

6. Yogi Adityanath, who was brought in to Telangana from Uttar Pradesh to campaign for the BJP, had said that if the party is voter to power, state capital Hyderabad will be renamed “Bhagyanagar” and Karimnagar district will be named “Karimpuram”. The BJP put up a high-decibel campaign in the state where it is trying to get a foothold.

7. While KCR’s party won 63 seats last time against the 21 seats of Congress and 15 of Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party, data from the last election shows a 2 per cent vote swing may change the outcome of the election. Mr Rao had a good equation with Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM, which won 7 seats in the last election.

8. In the last five elections since 1993, Rajasthan has swung between the BJP and the Congress. But the Congress, which won only 21 assembly seats in 2013 against the BJP’s 161, would need an 8 per cent swing in its favour to win the election.

9. The Congress is yet to announce a chief ministerial candidate in Rajasthan. Its election in-charge Sachin Pilot and former chief minister Ashok Gehlot are seen as front-runners for the top job if the party wins. “We will sit and discuss this after our party gets a majority in the election,” Mr Pilot told reporters after voting in Jaipur.

10. A victory for the Congress-Telugu Desam Party alliance will place Mr Naidu – who has taken on the job of facilitating an opposition alliance ahead of national elections – at the forefront of the opposition politics. Mr Naidu is contesting only 13 seats in this election and said in case of a victory, the top job in the state will go to the Congress, which is contesting the rest. The Congress has not announced a chief ministerial candidate.

Courtesy by : NDTV