Rajasthan civic polls: Repolling underway at five Jaipur booths over EVM technical issues

Jaipur (Rajasthan) [India], September 16 (ANI): Repolling is being conducted at five polling booths in Jaipur on Wednesday after technical issues were reported in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) during the counting of votes in the Rajasthan Urban Local Body Elections-2026.
The repolling is underway at booth number 111 of Ward No. 9, booth number 235 of Ward No. 18, booth number 343 of Ward No. 25, and booth numbers 477 and 484 of Ward No. 34 under Jaipur Municipal Corporation.
Voting at these polling centres will continue till 6 pm. New ballot papers are being used for the fresh polling process, while the previous indelible ink marks of voters are being ignored and fresh ink is being applied to the middle finger of the left hand.
The counting of votes for these polling centres will be conducted on September 17 from 8 am after the completion of repolling.
The State Election Commission had ordered fresh polling at selected booths in Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota and Suket after receiving complaints of technical glitches in EVMs during the counting process.
In Jaipur, repolling is being held at five booths, while other affected polling centres include booths in Jodhpur Municipal Corporation, Kota Municipal Corporation and Suket Municipality.
The commission, after reviewing reports submitted by district election officials and returning officers, found that due to technical issues in the machines, the number of votes that could not be displayed was higher than the vote margin between the nearest candidates at these polling centres.
Based on the findings, the commission decided to conduct repolling at the affected booths.
Voters at polling centre number 477 in Jaipur’s Ward 34, including Rajesh Sharma, Anil Nagori and Santosh Paliwal, shared their experience of participating in the repolling process. 
Earlier on Monday, the Bharatiya Janata Party secured a resounding victory in the Rajasthan urban local body elections, winning the Jaipur Municipal Corporation board with 78 seats, while independent candidates emerged as key players in several other civic bodies where no party has secured a clear majority.
Out of the 150 wards in the Jaipur Municipal Corporation, results for 146 wards have been declared so far. The BJP has won 78 wards, while the Congress has secured 53 seats, and independent candidates have won 15 wards.
The final picture in the four remaining wards will be clear after re-polling at five booths due to technical issues with Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
Jaipur District Collector Sandesh Nayak said the EVM results could not be retrieved from booths in Ward 9 (Booth No. 111), Ward 18 (Booth No. 235), Ward 25 (Booth No. 343), and Ward 34 (Booth Nos. 477 and 484).
Notably, BJP narrowly defeated the Congress by a margin of less than one percentage point in the recently concluded Rajasthan urban local body elections, securing 35.18 per cent of the total votes polled across 309 civic bodies.
The BJP received 37,35,567 votes, while the Congress secured 36,35,952 votes, with a difference of 99,615 votes between the two parties. The winning margin stood at 0.94 per cent. (ANI)