Jaipur, Nov 13 (IANS): Close to 40 per cent polling was recorded in all 7 assembly constituencies in Rajasthan by-polls till 1 pm.

The highest voting of 45.4 percent was recorded in Ramgarh assembly constituency. Other constituencies like Khinvsar recorded 42.74 per cent voting, Chorasi had 40.95 per cent, Salumber had 40.03 per cent voting, Deoli Uniara had 37.78 per cent voting, Jhunjhunu had 35.71 per cent voting and Dausa had 32.17 per cent voting.

Meanwhile, an independent candidate Naresh Meena slapped the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) in Deoli Uniara seat. The hooligan act of the contesting candidate was also caught on camera, creating widespread furore.

When questioned by scribes, Naresh Meena defended his objectionable act and said that this was answer to the SDM as the electoral officers including collector didn’t pay heed to people’s problems.

“I have been sitting in this village for four hours as people here boycotted voting since 7 am. Uniara subdivision is 15 kms from the village. This village was removed from Uniara and added to Deoli subdivision which is 95 kms from here. People face lot of problems commuting such distance. Villagers have been requesting the collector to make some arrangements. The collector did not come. SDM was posted here but he paid no heed to their problems. So, this was the answer to SDM,” Naresh Meena said.

This seat became vacant after Harish Chandra Meena, who was elected MLA from Deoli-Uniyara seat in 2023 assembly elections, became MP from Tonk-Sawai Madhopur. In 2023, Harish Chandra Meena defeated Vijay Bainsala of BJP.

It needs to be mentioned that by-polls for seven seats in Rajasthan were necessitated after 5 MLAs were elected as MPs in Jhunjhunu, Dausa, Chorasi, Khinvsar and Deoli Uniara. Two MLAs had passed away in Ramgarh and Salumber, leaving the assembly constituency vacant.

For all the seven constituencies, BJP and Congress engaged in high-voltage campaign and fielded 40 star campaigners each. For the BJP, all star campaigners except Vasundhara Raje campaigned for the party. Out of Congress’ 40 star campaigners, 36 canvassed.