Voting for bypolls in Rajasthan begins

Counting is slated to take place on February 1.

Jaipur: The Lok Sabha seats of Ajmer and Alwar, and the Assembly seat of Mandalgarh will go to bypoll on Monday when over 38 lakh voters would decide the fate of 41 candidates. In a first, EVM machines with photos of candidates on them would be used for polling, which would take place from 8am to 6pm. "For the first time, photos of candidates are being placed on EVM machines to avoid confusion among voters about different candidates with same names," Chief Election Officer Ashwini Bhagat said. He said 38,02,168 voters are registered in all the three constituencies and preparations for the bypolls were complete. Eleven candidates in Alwar, 23 in Ajmer and eight candidates in Mandalgarh are in the fray. Counting is slated to take place on February 1. The BJP has fielded Labour Minister Jaswant Singh Yadav and former Union minister Sanwar Lal Jat's son Ramswaroop Lamba for the Alwar and the Ajmer Lok Sabha seats, respectively, while Shakti Singh Hada is contesting the bypoll as BJP's candidate from the Mandalgarh Assembly constituency in Bhilwara district. The Congress named Vivek Dhakad as it's candidate for the Mandalgarh Assembly constituency, former MLA Raghu Sharma for the Ajmer Lok Sabha seat and Karan Singh Yadav for the Alwar Lok Sabha constituency. Ajmer and Alwar Lok Sabha seats, and the Mandalgarh Assembly seat fell vacant due to the deaths of Ajmer MP Sanwar Lal Jat, Alwar MP Chand Nath and Mandalgarh MLA Kirti Kumari (all of the BJP) last year.