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Over 50% polling in Rajasthan

Mohammed Iqbal

JAIPUR: Over 50 per cent of the voters exercised their franchise during the polling for by-elections for the Assembly seats of Todabhim and Salumber in Rajasthan on Saturday. Except three or four incidents of minor skirmishes, the polling was peaceful in both the constituencies.

According to State Election Department sources, the final voting figures would be between 50 and 55 per cent. An electronic voting machine was replaced at polling booth number 189 in Salumber after it developed technical snag and the presiding officer of another booth was shifted at Harda.

No untoward incident

The peaceful polling in Todabhim came as a big relief to the officers responsible for law and order, as the region had witnessed large-scale violence between rival groups of Gujjars and Meenas during the previous Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. No untoward incident was reported from anywhere in Karauli district, where Todabhim is situated.

The stalwarts of the Meena and Gujjar communities — Kirorilal Meena and Kirori Singh Bainsla — were conspicuous by their absence during the entire election campaign as well as on the polling day. Both the seats are reserved for the Scheduled Tribes, and the Gujjars hold the key to Todabhim because of their majority.

With the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party locked in a direct fight in both the seats, the caste equations were highlighted at the hustings. Six candidates were in the fray at Todabhim, while seven contested from Salumber.

Interestingly, the BJP nominee from Salumber, Amritlal Meena, could not cast his vote as his name was missing from the electoral rolls. The polling was slow in the morning and picked up as the day progressed.

The bypolls were necessitated after Raghuveer Meena of the Congress and Kirorilal Meena (Independent) resigned their Assembly seats on getting elected to the Lok Sabha from Udaipur and Dausa earlier this year.

Mr. Raghuveer Meena’s wife, Basanti Meena, was the Congress candidate from Salumber, while the party fielded the former Zila Pramukh, Shivdayal Meena, from Todabhim. The BJP’s candidate for the seat was Ramesh Chand Meena.

The by-elections are being treated as a litmus test for the Ashok Gehlot government in the State, as their results will depict how popular is the ruling Congress.

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