The stage is set for bypolls in three Assembly constituencies in Congress-ruled Rajasthan where voting will be held on Saturday.
The three Assembly seats for which the bypolls are being held are Sahara in Bhilwara district, Sujangarh in Churu district and Rajsamand.
The three seats have fallen vacant following the deaths of sitting Rajasthan minister Bhanwarlal Meghwal representing Sujangarh, Congress MLA Kailash Trivedi from Sahara and BJP MLA Kiran Maheshwari from Rajsamand.
While Meghwal had died of a brain stroke last year in November, Trivedi and Maheswari had succumbed to Covid-19 around the same time. The Congress has fielded Meghwal’s son Manoj, Trivedi’s wife Gayatri Devi and party leader Tansukh Bohara from the three seats respectively.
They are facing BJP’s former minister Khemaram Meghwal, former ex-MLA Ratanlal Jat and Maheshwari’s daughter Deepti respectively at the three seats. In the 200-member Assembly, the Congress at present has 104 members, BJP 72, RLP three, CPI (M) and BTP two each while there 13 independent MLA. Four seats are vacant.
The bypolls for the fourth vacant seat Vallabhnagar is yet to be announced. Though the results will have no impact on the stability of the Ashok Gehlot government, rocked last year by a revolt led by former deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot, they are likely to reflect the public mood and its assessment of the government's work.
The bypolls are also being seen as a test of the leadership of BJP’s state president Satish Poonia, who was given a free hand to handle them but suffered a setback after former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and some other leaders distanced themselves from electioneering on one pretext or the other.
The voting will be held on Saturday from 7 am to 6 pm in strict adherence to the anti-Covod protocol. Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Gupta said at polling booths, voters will be thermally scanned before being allowed inside and will be given gloves to wear before touching EVMs. Wearing facemasks too will be mandatory, he added.
A total of 27 candidates are in the fray in these three constituencies where a total of 7,43,802 voters will be able to exercise their franchise. Counting will be held on May 2. Rashtriya Loktantrik Party headed by Nagaur MP Hanuman Beniwal has also fielded candidates in the bypolls.
On the eve of polling day, Rajasthan Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra exuded confidence that his party will win all three seats, claiming people are very much satisfied with the government work in the last two and half years.
Chief Minister Gehlot too earlier on Thursday released a video message, appealing to people to vote for the Congress. “If we win the three byelections, this will be a lesson for all the conspirators, sitting in Delhi, be it Union minister or their leaders who are in the Opposition here (in the state), that public is supreme in democracy and will not tolerate if there is an attempt to topple the elected government,” he said in his message.
BJP state president Poonia, however, claimed that there is resentment among people against the Congress government over the worsening law and order in the state. The people have also been resenting the Congress’ failure to fulfil its pre-poll promises, made in 2018. He also exuded confidence that the saffron party will win the elections.