Rajasthan: Congress leading in Sardarshahar bypoll counting

RAJASTHAN: Congress candidate Anil Sharma is leading in the third round of counting for the bypoll of the Sardarshahar assembly seat in Rajasthan. The counting began on Thursday morning at 8 AM with a Congress candidate taking the lead at 10 AM.

Congress got 43.5 per cent vote share while BJP received 30.7 per cent. Others manage to secure 22.3 per cent of the vote share. Congress is leading in the third round of counting as well. There are 10 candidates in the fray in the Sardarshahar assembly by-election, whose future will be decided today.

The ruling Congress fielded Anil Sharma, son of late minister Bhanwar Lal Sharma, as its candidate for December 5 bye-election. MLA Ashok Kumar Pincha is the BJP candidate for the seat. The by-election was necessitated following the death of sitting MLA Bhanwar Lal Sharma. The seven-time MLA passed away at 77 in Jaipur in October.

According to the information, ballot paper postal votes were first counted, and results were then taken from EVM machines. District Collector and Election Officer Siddharth Sihag himself was present at the counting site. Apart from this, Assistant Superintendent of Police Rajendra Meena of the district was also on the spot.

About 2,80,000 voters have exercised their votes at 295 polling booths. The assembly seat saw a triangular contest between Anil Sharma from Congress, Ashok Pincha from BJP and Lalchand Mund from RLP. Counting of votes polled during the byelections to Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat and six Assembly seats in five states commenced at 8 am on Thursday. Along with the results of the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections. Rampur Sadar and Khatauli in Uttar Pradesh, Padampur in Odisha, Sardarshahar in Rajasthan, Kurhani in Bihar and Bhanupratappur in Chhattisgarh were the assembly seats where the byelections were held on December 5. Pincha is a former MLA from this seat. He had contested the 2018 elections from Sardarshahar but lost by a margin of over 16,000 votes to Sharma.

The by-election is significant as it was held a year before the state elections. Rajasthan has seen the incumbent government being voted out of power every five years since 1998. Of about 2.89 lakh voters in Sardarshahar, there is a significant presence of people from Brahmin, Jat, and Dalit communities. The last date for filing nominations for the seat is November 17 and the result will be declared on December 8.