A voter turnout of 78.9% in Ramgarh Assembly constituency in Rajasthan’s Alwar district on Monday was recorded at 5 pm as the voting ended, PTI reported. The bye-poll was necessitated after Bahujan Samaj Party candidate Laxman Singh died in November during the state elections.
“VVPAT [voter-verified paper audit trail] machines at five booths were replaced during a mock poll drill and three were replaced after polling began,” Returning Officer Pankaj Sharma said.
The polling was conducted peacefully and no untoward incident took place, PTI reported.
The Ramgarh constituency bye-poll is a contest between the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party. The Bahujan Samaj Party’s candidate is Jagat Singh, the son of former Union minister Natwar Singh. The Congress has fielded Shafia Zubair Khan, while the BJP’s nominee is Sukhwant Singh.
Voting was held at 278 polling booths, and 2.35 lakh people are eligible to vote. The results will be declared on January 31.
“There are 122 critical polling stations in Ramgarh,” Sharma had earlier said. “Out of these, 77 will be manned by central forces, while the rest will be taken care of by the state police.”
The Congress won 99 out of 199 seats in the Rajasthan Assembly elections, the results of which were declared on December 11. Its ally, the Rashtriya Lok Dal, won one seat, the BJP 73 seats, and the Bahujan Samaj Party six. The Congress formed the government in the state, ousting the BJP government led by Vasundhara Raje.
Meanwhile, elections to Haryana’s Jind Assembly constituency also began on Monday morning. The bye-poll was necessitated by the death of legislator Hari Chand Middha of the Indian National Lok Dal in August last year. A voter turnout of more than 70% was recorded.
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