Assembly by-polls — BJP, Cong to battle it out in 5 states

The constituencies going to the polls are Jetpur and Jodiya in Gujarat, Khallari and Burhampur in Madhya Pradesh, Khuwbung in Mizoram, Sardarpura, Kumbalgarh, Bhim and Mundwa in Rajasthan and Hauz Khas and Nangloi Jat in Delhi. Electronic voting machines will be used in Khallari, Burhampur, Sardarpura, Hauz Khas and Nangloi Jat.

Gehlot, a Lok Sabha member, is pitted against the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Megh Raj Lohiya in Sardarpura constituency, Jodhpur district.

A total of 19 candidates were in the fray for the by-elections to the Jetpur and Jodiya Assembly constituencies inGujarat on the last day of the withdrawal of nominations today.

According to the state election office here, while two candidates out of 10 withdrew their nominations from Jetpur, five withdrew from Jodiya out of 16.

In Rajkot’s Jetpur Assembly constituency, there were eight contestants while 11 were in fray for the Jodiya Assembly seat in Jamnagar district. Both the constituencies will witness contests between the ruling BJP and the Congress.

In Jetpur, the BJP’s Korat Jasuben Savjibhai, widow of the late Minister Savji Korat, is pitted against Congress’ Vekariya Bhagwanjibhai Ukkabhai and at Jodiya, the contest is between the BJP’s Gahva Hasmukhlal Karmshi and the Congress’ Patel Raghavjibhai Hansraj.

In the two Assembly constituencies of Madhya Pradesh, 11 candidates were in the fray. While four candidates were in the race for the Burhanpur constituency, Khallari constituency would witness a contest among seven candidates, according to a press release from the State election office here. The fournominees in Burhanpur include one each of the Congress and the BJP and two Independents, while in Khallari, there were two Independents, besides nominees of the Congress, BJP, Chhattisgarh Samaj Party, Ajeya Bharat Party and Republican Party.

In Delhi’s Hauz Khas constituency, 13 candidates including Congress nominee Kiran Walia, who had given a tough fight to former Chief Minister Sushma Swaraj in the November 25 Assembly elections and BJP nominee Hari Shankar Gautam filed their nominations, Delhi Election Commission sources said.

In the Nangloi Jat assembly segment, where the election was adjourned due to the murder of Samata Party candidate Ved Singh, there are 13 candidates in the fray. Nomination of Samata Party nominee Panmeswari Devi, mother of Ved Singh, was found to be valid, sources said.

There are 1,09,546 voters in Hauz Khas while Nangloi Jat has 1,45,257 voters. A total of 106 polling stations in Hauz Khas and 158 polling stations in Nangloi Jat would be set up.

While Hauz Khas is all setto witness a straight Congress-BJP contest, Nangloi Jat constituency will see a triangular fight between BJP candidate Devender Shokeen, the Congress’ P C Kaushik and Samata Party’s Panmeswari Devi.

Manjushree, the Congress nominee in Burhanpur, is the daughter of Shiv Kumar Singh, who had won in November last year as a Congress rebel.

Elections in both the constituencies were necessitated by the death of winners soon after the declaration of results in November last year.

The by-elections were necessitated by the death of two BJP ministers Savji Korat and Maganbhai Kasundra who represented Jetpur and Jodiya seats respectively.

The Rashtriya Janata Party of Shankarsinh Vaghela has also fielded candidates for the two seats. The others are mostly Independents.In the by-elections in Delhi, 25 candidates, including 12 from Hauz Khas and 13 from Nangloi Jat, are in fray.

The need for the by-election arose following the resignation of Man Singh Deora to enable Gehlot to enter the State Assembly.