Rajasthan: Over 60 pc polling in Ajmer, Alwar LS bypolls; 78.78 pc for Mandalgarh Assembly seat

Jaipur: Ajmer and Alwar Lok Sabha constituencies witnessed a turnout of 65.2 and 61.86 per cent respectively while the Mandalgarh Assembly seat registered an even higher 78.78 per cent as voting in the bypolls for these seats took place peacefully on Monday.

Despite the healthy turnout, the figures were still less than those recorded the last time these constituencies went to polls, officials said. "The voting took place peacefully in the two Lok Sabha and one Assembly constituency from 8 am to 6 pm today," chief electoral officer Ashwini Bhagat said.

Ajmer and Alwar registered 68.65 per cent and 65.50 per cent voting in the 2014 general elections while Mandalgarh had recorded 82 per cent voting during the 2013 Rajasthan Assembly polls.

There were 39,02,168 voters in the three constituencies.

The Vasundhara Raje government in Rajasthan has already completed four years in office and these bypolls are being seen as an indicator of the public mood ahead of the state polls.

As many as 1,987 polling booths were set up for the Alwar Lok Sabha bypoll where 18.27 lakh voters are registered while for the 18.42 lakh voters in Ajmer, a total of 1,925 polling booths were set up.

In Bhilwara district's Mangalgarh Assembly constituency, there were 2.31 lakh voters and 282 polling booths were set up, officials said.

Arrangements for webcasting was made in 313 polling booths, 140 in Alwar, 153 in Ajmer and 20 in Mangalgarh, Bhagat informed.

Counting of votes will take place on February 1.

Rajasthan minister Jaswant Singh Yadav is the BJP candidate from Alwar while former union minister Sanwar Lal Jat's son Ramswaroop Lamba is the saffron party nominee from Ajmer. The ruling BJP had fielded Shakti Singh Hada as its candidate from the Mandalgarh?Assembly constituency.

Congress had Vivek Dhakad as its candidate form the Mandalgarh?Assembly seat. Former MLA Raghu Sharma (Ajmer) and Karan Singh Yadav (Alwar) were the other two candidates of the Rahul Gandhi led party in these bypolls.

Bypolls were necessitated in these three seats due to the deaths of the sitting lawmakers. Ajmer MP Sanwar Lal Jat, Alwar MP Chand Nath and?Mandalgarh MLA Kirti Kumari (all of BJP) passed away last year.

Sanwar Lal Jat suffered cardiac attack during a party meeting in Jaipur and died in August?last year. Nath died in September last night after prolonged illness while Mandalgarh?MLA Kirti Kumari died in August, also due to illness.