Bypoll at Mandawa and Khinwsar ends, turnout declines

JAIPUR : Polling percentage at the two assembly seats in Rajasthan where bypolls were held on Monday declined in comparison to last two elections in these segments.

Chief Election Officer Anand Kumar said the elections at both the assembly constituencies went off peacefully and no untoward incident was reported. The polling percentage at Mandawa assembly in Jhunjhunu district was recorded 69.62%; whereas at Khinwsar in Nagaur district was 62.61%. In 2018 assembly elections, polling percent at Mandawa was 73.57% and 73.99% (2013); similarly at Khinwsar it was 75.58% (2019) and 77.10% (2013).He said polling peacefully held at 525 polling booths of the assembly constituencies. The election department replaced eight voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) were replaced due to technical malfunctioning – three at Khinwsar and five at Mandawa. The machines were immediately replaced and voting was not affected. The two Jat dominated assembly seat fell vacant after the MLAS Narendra Khichad (Mandawa) and Beniwal (Khinvsar) got elected to Lok Sabha.

Reinstating faith, the party has fielded EX-MLA and 2018 assembly candidate Rita Choudhary, daughter of veteran leaders Ram Narain Choudhary from Mandawa; whereas from Khinwsar, former-minister Harendra Mirdha has been chosen instead of Sawai Singh, who was candidate in last election.

BJP has fielded long time Congress member and Zila Parishad Pradhan, Susheela Sigra against Choudhary, whereas f rom Khinwsar, Nagaur MP Hanuman Beniwal’s brother Narayan Beniwal will be contesting against Mirdha. BJP and Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) have come in alliance for the Khinwsar seat.

There are 12 candidates in fray - 9 i n Ma n d a w a a n d 3 i n Khinwsar. The election department had setup 259 polling booths in Mandawa, where 2,27,414 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise.