Dholpur bypoll: BJP candidate Shobha Rani leading by 22,602

BJP candidate Shobha Rani is leading by 22,602 votes after ten rounds of counting in the Dholpur Assembly bypoll in Rajasthan.
"The BJP candidate has secured 47,951 votes while the votes of Congress candidate Banwari Lal Sharma are 25,349," according to the state election commission.
A total of 74,742 votes have been counted in ten rounds and the counting is on amid tight security arrangements.
Meanwhile, the BJP leaders are giving credit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje whereas the Congress is questioning the credibility of EVM machines.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rajendra Rathore and Health Minister Kalicharan Saraf said that the election was contested on the development agenda and voters have given their mandate in favour of the party.

"Development was our agenda and the trends have indicated that the people voted for the development," Rathore, who along with other leaders did intensive campaigning in Dholpur, said.

Saraf said that people of Dholpur have voted for development and the party is going to win the seat.
"The election was contested under the leadership of the chief minister and we are going to win the seat," he said.
Enthusiastic workers gathered at the party headquarters here and congratulated each other.
"The impact of the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje is visible in the election. People have voted for them. The party won Uttar Pradesh elections recently and this also had an impact in Dholpur bye-election," the party MLA Alka Singh said.

Khadi Board Chairman Shambhu Dayal Badgujar said that the trends were a very clear indication that people have once again expressed faith in the leadership of the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister.
Badgujar along with his supporters congratulated the party leadership.
On the other hand, Congress leader and former MLA Pratap Singh questioned the credibility of EVM machines.
"There are only trends and the result has not been announced so far. The chief minister herself stayed in Dholpur after the campaigning got over which was in violation of the rules of the election commission.
"The BJP misused the government machinery and the party wanted to win the election anyhow. The credibility of EVM machines is also in question," Singh said.

In the 2013-assembly elections, BSP candidate B L Kushwaha had won the seat by defeating Congress candidate Banwari Lal Sharma by a margin of 9,209 votes.
BJP candidate (Abdul Sagir Khan) was in the third position by securing 35,351 votes.