Voting is underway for 119 seats in the Telangana assembly elections and 199 seats in Rajasthan. For the BJP, the crucial battle is in the northern state, which has voted out the incumbent government for more than two decades. But Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje is hoping to buck the trend, claiming that her government had worked hard and if anything is wanting, it is, as BJP chief Amit Shah said, is the publicity.

In Telangana, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao is facing the combined forces of the Congress and N Chandrababu Naidu. A victory for the alliance will have ramifications for the opposition ahead of next year's national elections. A voter turnout of 8.97 per cent was recorded till 9 am in Telangana, according to news agency ANI.