Hans News Service Jaipur

Glitchesin Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) disrupted polling at several places in Rajasthan on Wednesday as voters lined up to elect councillors in the first phase of urban local body elections, with 50.38 per cent turnout recorded till 1 pm, officials said.

Polling was disrupted at a booth each in Ward 39 of Sujangarh Municipal Council and Ward 52 in Bikaner due to malfunctioning EVMs, according to officials.

In Alwar city, voters expressed anger after an EVM stopped working at a polling booth, while long queues of voters were witnessed in Sawai Madhopur and Jodhpur following technical glitches in EVMs, they said.

Complaints of alleged fake voting also emerged from Wards 16 and 18 in Baran district, Ward 1 in Dudu in Jaipur district, Ward 22 in Bhilwara, Ward 34 in Jalore and Ward 29 in Bharatpur.

The highest turnout till 1 pm was recorded in Sikari municipality in Deeg district, where 81.28 per cent of voters had exercised their franchise. The lowest turnout of 36.67 per cent was recorded in Bhilwara Municipal Corporation. Polling began at 7 am and will continue until 6 pm, the officials said. More than 20,000 candidates are in the fray for 5,393 councillor posts in the first phase, covering 162 urban local bodies -- four municipal corporations, 27 municipal councils and 131 municipalities.

A total of 57,52,278 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise across 7,683 polling stations in the 162 civic bodies. In Jaipur district, voting is being held at 565 polling stations across 18 urban local bodies.