40 per cent polling till 1 pm in Rajasthan bypolls

Jaipur: A polling percentage of around 40 was recorded till 1 pm in the bypolls to the seven assembly seats in Rajasthan on Wednesday, election officials said.

There was no report of any untoward incident except from Deoli-Uniara in Tonk where an independent candidate slapped an area magistrate, a Rajasthan Administrative Service officer, for making efforts for voting as the locals had boycotted polling in support of their demand.

Voting began amid tight security arrangements at 7 am in Jhunjhunu, Dausa, Deoli-Uniara, Khinvsar, Chorasi, Salumber and Ramgarh assembly constituencies and by 1 pm, the voter turnout was 39.35 per cent.

Ramgarh witnessed the highest turnout of 45.4 per cent, whereas it was 42.74 per cent in Khinvsar, 40.95 in Chorasi, 40.03 in Salumbar, 37.78 in Deoli Uniara, 35.71 in Jhunjhunu and 32.17 per cent in Dausa.

Voting in these seven seats will continue till 6 pm. Counting will take place on November 23.

In Deoli-Uniara, independent candidate Naresh Meena allegedly slapped Amit Chaudhary, sub divisional officer of Malpura, who is engaged in the election duty as the area magistrate. Meena, a Congress rebel contesting as independent, also caught the collar of Chaudhary.

District election officer and Tonk collector Saumya Jha said voters in Samravta village had announced they would boycott polling in support of a demand but the polling booth and approach road to the booth remained open.

SP Vikas Sangwan said adequate police force was deployed in the area and legal action will be taken as per norms.

Meena was supporting the villagers who had declared the boycott.

The village currently falls in Nagar fort Tehsil and the villagers are demanding bringing the village under Uniara Tehsil because the Uniara tehsil office is closer to the village.

While the by-elections will not impact the stability of the BJP government, they serve as a crucial test for Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma and BJP state president Madan Rathore, especially after the party's disappointing performance in the Lok Sabha elections, where it lost 11 out of 25 seats.

The bypolls are being held in two constituencies due to death of Congress MLA Zubair Khan in Ramgarh and BJP MLA Amritlal Meena in Salumber. The remaining five seats became vacant as their MLAs were elected to Parliament in the Lok Sabha polls.

Alongside the Congress, Hanuman Beniwal's Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) and Rajkumar Roat's Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) also face the challenge of defending their political strongholds.

Beniwal's wife Kanika Beniwal is contesting the election from Khinvsar against BJP's Rewant Ram Danga, who contested the assembly election on this seat last year but lost to Hanuman Beniwal by 2059 votes, and Congress's Ratan Chaudhary.

In Jhunjhunu, Congress candidate Amit Ola, the son of MP Brijendra Ola, is contesting election against BJP's Rajendra Bhamboo.

Former minister Rajendra Singh Gudha is also contesting the bypolls as an independent candidate from Jhunjhunu.

In the tribal-dominated Chorasi seat, there is a close fight between BJP and BAP candidates.

Deoli-Uniara and Dausa seats are also witnessing contests between BJP and Congress though Congress rebel Meena is also posing a challenge.

Cabinet minister Kirodi Lal Meena's brother Jagmohan Meena is contesting Dausa bypolls against Congress's Deen Dayal.

Currently, the 200-seat state assembly has 114 MLAs of the BJP, 65 of the Congress, three of the Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP), two of the BSP, one of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and eight Independent MLAs.