Big turnout in high-stakes Jind & Ramgarh bypolls
In the Jind Assembly by-election, the turnout was recorded at 75.77 per cent, officials said.
Jind/Jaipur: A high voter turnout was recorded in both Haryana’s Jind and Rajasthan’s Ramgarh assembly constituencies Monday, where the Congress and the BJP are locked in a battle of prestige.
In the Jind Assembly by-election, the turnout was recorded at 75.77 per cent, officials said.
The turnout was 78.9 per cent in Ramgarh, where the election was deferred following the death of BSP candidate Laxman Singh a few days before the December 7 Assembly polls in the state, which installed a Congress-led government in place of a BJP-led dispensation.
The officials said the turnout in both seats is likely to increase as there were people in queues in several booths after 5 pm, the scheduled time for voting to end. Counting of votes will take place on January 31.
The election was multi-cornered in Jind in Haryana, ahead of parliamentary and Assembly elections are due in later this year.
All four major contenders in Jind — the ruling BJP, Congress, the INLD and the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), which was formed after a split in the INLD — have pulled out all the stops for a victory, which could prove to be a morale booster for the rank and file.
The Jind bypoll was necessitated following the death of INLD MLA Hari Chan Middha, whose son Krishna Middha recently joined the BJP and is the saffron party’s candidate for the by-election.
The Congress fielded its chief national spokesperson and sitting MLA from Kaithal constituency Randeep Singh Surjewala.
The INLD is banking on Umed Redhu to retain the seat. The JJP has put its weight behind Digvijay Chautala, the younger son of jailed leader Ajay Singh Chautala, who broke away from the INLD and floated the party.
For the BJP, Congress, INLD and the JJP, the outcome would help in a self-assessment exercise ahead of Lok Sabha polls this year.
The high-stakes election is considered a referendum on the Manohar Lal Khattar government and also a semi-final ahead of Lok Sabha elections.
In Rajasthan’s Ramgarh constituency, the polling was peaceful and no untoward incident took place.
Twenty candidates, including two women, are in the fray. The BSP has fielded former Union minister Natwar Singh's son and former MLA Jagat Singh, while former Alwar Zila Pramukh Shafia Zubair Khan is contesting as Congress candidate and Sukhwant singh as the BJP candidate.