Rajasthan polls: Cong's Joshi trails behind BJP candidate in Nathdwara seat

Rajasthan Assembly Speaker C P Joshi was trailing behind his BJP rival Vishvaraj Singh Mewar in Rajsamand district's Nathdwara seat by 1,154 votes as early trends for the state assembly elections poured in on Sunday.

Joshi has got 7,262 as against Mewar's 8,416, the Election Commission (EC) website showed.

In North Kota constituency, state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shanti Dhariwal was lagging behind BJP candidate Prahlad Gunjal by 3,490 votes. Dhariwal has got 8,558 votes so far while Gunjal has got 12,048, it showed.

BJP leader Vasundhara Raje is leading in Rajasthan's Jhalrapatan assembly seat with 7,025 votes against her Congress rival Ramlal Chouhan, according to the Election Commission website.

The former chief minister has got 13,213 votes so far, while Chouhan has got 6,188, the website showed.

According to initial trends for the Rajasthan assembly polls, counting for which began at 8 am on Sunday, BJP candidates are leading in several other seats.

In Vidhyadhar Nagar constituency, the BJP's Diya Kumar is leading with 420 votes against the Congress' Sitaram Agarwal, the EC website showed.

So far, Kumar has received 7,094 votes and Aggarwal has got 6,674 votes.

In Nimbahera assembly segment, BJP candidate Shrichand Kriplani is leading with 1,220 votes against his Congress rival Anjana Udayalal.

Kriplani has received 14,944 votes so far and Udayalal 13,724, according to EC data.

Rajasthan minister Shakuntala Rawat is leading in Bansur seat against Rohitash Kumar of the Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram). Rawat has got 9,283 votes so far. Kumar has got 5,566 votes while BJP candidate Devi Singh Shekhawat is close behind with 5,516 votes, the data showed.

The EC website showed the BJP is leading in 96 seats in the state and the Congress in 67.

Polling for the assembly elections was held on November 25.

Postal ballots are being counted first. This will be followed by the counting of votes polled through electronic voting machines (EVMs).

A total of 36 counting centres have been set up in 199 of the state's 200 assembly constituencies which went to polls. Election to the Sriganganagar's Karanpur seat was postponed due to the death of Congress candidate Gurmeet Singh Koonar.