10 Rajasthan seats see less than 1,000 victory margins

The electoral battle in Rajasthan, where the Congress-led alliance got a slender majority, saw at least 10 close contests with winning margins of less than 1,000 votes, with the narrowest winning margin being of only 154 votes.

According to the Election Commission, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nominee Jabbar Singh Sankhala, contesting Asind seat in Bhilwara district, wrested the seat from Congress' Manish Mewara by bagging 154 more votes than his nearest rival.

Sankhala got 70,249 votes, while Mewara got 70,095.

Independent candidate from Marwar constituency Khushveer Singh defeated BJP's Kesaram Choudhary with a margin of 251 votes. Singh got 58,921 votes, while Choudhary bagged 58,670.

BJP's Dharmendra Kumar, who contested from Pilibanga (SC) seat, was also lucky to defeat Congress' Vinod Kumar with a margin of 278 votes. Dharmendra Kumar got 1,06,414 votes as compared to 1,06,136 polled by the Congress nominee.

Ashok Dogra of the BJP defeated Congress's Harimohan Sharma by 713 votes in Bundi. Dogra got 97,370 votes, while Sharma bagged 96,657.

Hakam Ali Khan of Congress, who contested from Fatehpur Assembly constituency, won the election with a margin of 860 votes. Khan got 80,354 votes against BJP's Sunita Kumari who got 79,494.

From Pokaran Assembly constituency, Congress's Shale Mohammad defeated BJP's Pratapuri with a margin of 872 votes, with Mohammad getting 82,964 votes, while Pratapuri got 82,092.

There were three more leaders whose victory margins were less than 1,000 votes.

The Congress won 99 seats on its own of the 199 where the elections were held. Its ally Rashtriya Lok Dal won one seat, while the BJP performed better than expected and won 73 seats.

--IANS

aks/nir