Rajasthan: Nearly 70 pc votes polled till 5.30 pm in Sardarshahar assembly by-election

Nearly 70 per cent voting was registered till 5.30 pm on Monday in the by-election to the Sardarshahar assembly seat in Rajasthan's Churu district, an official said.

Voting started at 8 am and was scheduled to end at 5 pm. However, the authorities usually allow voters who reach the polling booth within the stipulated time to cast their votes.

According to the official, 69.91 per cent polling was registered till 5.30 pm. Final figures will be issued later.

A total of 2,89,843 voters were eligible to exercise their franchise in the bypoll necessitated by the demise of Congress MLA Bhanwar Lal Sharma, who passed away on October 9 after prolonged illness.

Polling was held amid tight security arrangements across all 295 booths in the assembly segment. Wheelchairs were provided at each booth, the official said.

The Congress fielded the late Sharma's son Anil Kumar and former MLA Ashok Kumar is the BJP candidate.

Eight other candidates are in the fray: Lalchand of the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP), Sanwarmal Meghwal of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Parmana Ram of the Indian People's Green Party and Independent candidates Subhash Chandra, Vijay Pal Singh Sheoran, Umesh Sahu, Prem Singh and Surendra Singh Rajpurohit.

The votes will be counted on December 8.

In the 200-member Rajasthan Assembly, the Congress currently has 107 MLAs, BJP 71, RLP three, CPI(M) and Bhartiya Tribal Party two each, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) one and 13 are Independents.