Counting for Rajasthan by-polls to begin on Tuesday

Jaipur: The counting of votes for the 13 September by-elections to the four assembly constituencies of Rajasthan would begin tomorrow, a top election officer said today.

The counting of votes would begin in four district headquarters of Jhunjhunu, Ajmer, Kota and Bharatpur tomorrow at 0800 hrs, Chief Electoral Officer Dr Govind Sharma told PTI today.

The results would decide the fate of 23 candidates including four each of ruling BJP and the Opposition Congress.

By-polls were held in the four Assembly constituencies of Weir, Kota-South, Nasirabad and Surajgarh which recorded an average of 65.25 per cent polling.

The by-polls were necessitated after the sitting MLAs Sanwar Lal Jat (Nasirabad), Om Birla (Kota-South), Santosh Ahlawat (Surajgarh) and Bahadur Singh Koli (Weir) – resigned from the assembly following their election to Lok Sabha.

It was a close contest between main opposition Congress and the ruling BJP, which would try to retain all four seats and maintain a tally of 163 in the House of 200. Also, it would be a litmus test for Pradesh Congress Committee chief Sachin Pilot to prove his leadership in the state.

In 2013 assembly polls, Congress suffered one of its worst defeat and managed to win just 21 of 200 Assembly seats while BJP won 163. It also won all 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

PTI