BJP, Congress woo voters in Rajasthan bye-election

BJP and Congress leaders and supporters on Friday continued to campaign vigorously in a last-ditch effort to woo over 1.92 lakh voters for the Dholpur assembly bye-election to be held on Sunday.

The voters, including over 90,000 females, are expected to cast their votes at 231 polling stations across Dholpur, where the bye-poll was necessitated after Bahujan Samaj Party legislator Banwari Lal Kushwah was disqualified following conviction in a murder case last year.

The Congress has fielded former minister Banwari Lal Sharma while the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded Kushwah's wife from the assembly seat which is the home turf of Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje.

Raje is busy monitoring the situation in the assembly constituency on a daily basis.

The counting will take place on April 13.

While Raje, state BJP President Ashok Parnami and her Cabinet colleagues spent several days in the segment to woo voters, the Congress fielded senior leaders like state unit chief Sachin Pilot, former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Leader of Opposition Rameshwar Dudi.

"It is a test of the BJP government's three-and-half years in government. Moreover, it is a prestige issue for Raje, known as Maharani here," said a political analyst.

Presently, the BJP has 160 members and the Congress 24 in the 199-member assembly.

--IANS

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