Jaipur, Apr 17 (PTI) Campaigning for the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections for 12 seats in Rajasthan came to an end on Wednesday.

The Lok Sabha elections are being held in seven phases, beginning on Friday. The votes will be counted on June 4.

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The Ganganagar, Bikaner, Churu, Jhunjhunu, Sikar, Jaipur Rural, Jaipur, Alwar, Bharatpur, Karauli-Dholpur, Dausa and the Nagaur seats in Rajasthan will go to the polls in the first phase.

The Congress focused its election campaign on two issues -- inflation and unemployment.

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In its Nyay Patra, the party has promised to fill 30 lakh vacancies in government jobs, one-year apprenticeship programmes for young graduates, and legal guarantee on minimum support price for crops.

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, leaders Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, former chief minister Ashok Gehlot and others conducted a series of campaign meetings for the party's candidates across the state.

The BJP, on the other hand, attacked the Congress on appeasement politics, corruption and paper leak cases during its tenure in the state government. The saffron party also promoted its Sankalp Patra and highlighted Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "guarantees".

The party's campaign was led by Modi, who held multiple rallies in the state, including a roadshow in Dausa. Union Minister Amit Shah held a roadshow in Jaipur.

BJP chief JP Nadda, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his Madhya Pradesh counterpart Mohan Yadav, and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also addressed public rallies.

The BJP won all 25 seats in Rajasthan in the 2014 and the 2019 elections.

Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Gupta said 2,53,15,541 (2.53 crore) voters -- 1,32,89,538 (1.32 crore) men; 1,20,25,699 (1.20 crore) women and 304 third gender -- are eligible to cast their votes in the first phase.

He added that 7,98,520 (7.98 lakh) first-time voters aged 18-19 and 2,51,250 (2.51 lakh) disabled voters are also eligible to exercise their franchise in these 12 seats.

An election official said campaigning ended at 6 pm. On Friday, polling will begin at 7 am and close at 6 pm.

According to the regulations, public meetings, processions or broadcast of election-related matter through television or similar means is not allowed after the deadline.

Gupta said if anyone violates the provisions, they will be punished with imprisonment of up to two years or a fine or both.

The Election Commission has directed that any political person who is not a voter or candidate of that constituency or is not an MP or MLA cannot stay in that constituency after the end of the election campaign.

Among the seats that are likely to witness a close contest in the first phase are Sikar, Churu and Nagaur.

In Sikar, the Congress' Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc partner the CPI(M) has fielded former MLA Amra Ram against the BJP's incumbent MP Sumedanand Saraswati.

Sikar is the hometown of the Congress' Rajasthan unit chief Govind Singh Dotasra. Of the eight assembly segments in Sikar, five are with the Congress.

Ram has been an MLA from the Danta Ramgarh and the Dhod seats.

From Churu, the Congress has fielded Rahul Kaswan, the incumbent MP who switched to the grand old party after being denied a ticket by the BJP. Kaswan is contesting against the BJP's Devendra Jhajharia, a medallist in the Paralympics.

Churu is the hometown of Rajendra Rathore, a former leader of opposition in the Rajasthan Assembly, and BJP insiders believe Kaswan was denied a ticket because of him.

In Nagaur, the contest is between two prominent Jat leaders, with the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party's (RLP) Hanuman Beniwal contesting in an alliance with the Congress against the BJP's Jyoti Mirdha.

Beniwal, then contesting with the BJP's support, defeated Mirdha in the 2019 elections when she was a Congress candidate.

This time, Beniwal has decided to support the INDIA bloc and Mirdha is contesting on a BJP ticket.

The second phase of the elections in Rajasthan will be held on April 26. Tonk, Ajmer, Pali, Jodhpur, Barmer, Jalore, Udaipur, Banswara, Chittorgarh, Rajsamand, Bhilwara, Kota and Jhalawar will go to the polls in the second phase.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)