Campaigning for Rajasthan bypolls ends

Campaigning for the bypolls to the Mandawa and Khinwsar assembly seats in Rajasthan ended on Saturday evening, with the Congress hoping consolidate its thin majority by wresting the seats from the BJP and its ally.

Extensive security arrangements have been made for the elections in the two assembly constituencies on Monday, Chief Electoral Officer Anand Kumar said.

Sixty polling stations in Mandawa and 121 in Khinwsar have been identified as sensitive. Eight companies of paramilitary forces have been deployed in each of the poll-bound constituencies, he said.

Kumar said that 259 polling booths have been set up in Mandawa, where 2,27,414 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise, whereas 2,50,155 people will cast their votes in 266 booths in Khinwsar.

Polling will be held from 7 am-6 pm and counting of votes will take place on Thursday.

The bypolls were necessitated after Khinwsar MLA and Rashtriya Loktantrik Party leader Hanuman Beniwal, and Mandawa BJP legislator Narendra Kumar got elected to the Lok Sabha in May.

Of the 200 assembly seats in Rajasthan, the Congress has 106 MLAs, including the six who defected to the party from the BSP recently.