Polling picks up in Rajasthan

Voting picked up by Saturday afternoon in the by-polls for four Rajasthan assembly constituencies.

"The polling has been peaceful so far and as per tentative information, over 41.20 percent of the 8.95 lakh electors had cast their votes till 1 p.m.," an election department official told IANS.

The maximum polling of over 45 percent was reported from Surajgarh and the minimum of over 36 percent from Kota south till 1 p.m.

The elections were necessitated as BJP legislators Sanwar Lal Jat from Nasirabad, Om Birla from Kota South, Santosh Ahlawat from Surajgarh, and Bahadur Singh Koli from Weir got elected to the Lok Sabha.

In 2013 assembly elections, the state had recorded a high voter turnout of over 75.67 percent.

The voting started at 7 a.m. on a lukewarm note at over 961 polling stations spread in the four constituencies.

Reports of problems in the electronic voting machines (EVMs) came to light in some areas, where the machines were repaired or changed.

The Congress and the BJP are fighting on all the four seats.

In all 23 candidates are in the fray. The maximum of nine candidates are contesting from Surajgarh and the minimum of three from Weir.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded Sarita Gaina from Nasirabad in Ajmer district, Gangaram Koli from Weir constituency in Bharatpur district, Sandeep Sharma from Kota South constituency in Kota and a close confidant of Vasundhara Raje, Digambar Singh, from Surajgah in Jhunjhunu district.

The Congress has fielded Ramnarayan Gurjar from Nasirabad, Bhajanlal Jatav from Weir constituency, Shravan Kumar from Surajgarh and Shivkant Nandwana from Kota South.

In the the 2013 assembly elections, the Congress suffered one of its worst defeats in the history of the state, winning only 21 of the 200 assembly seats. The BJP swept the polls, winning 163 seats.