Polling for the Karanpur Assembly seat in Rajasthan's Sriganganagar district began at 7 am on Friday. The election to the Assembly seat was postponed after the death of Congress candidate Gurmeet Singh Koonar. A total of twelve candidates are in the fray including newly sworn-in cabinet minister Surendra Pal Singh TT.
"The polling in Karanpur began at 7 am. The polling will be held till 6 pm," District Collector Anshdeep said. The poll results will be declared on January 8, he added.
In place of the late Gurmeet Singh Koonar, the Congress has fielded his son, Rupinder Singh, from the seat. Surendra Pal Singh TT has been a state minister previously as well. This time he was inducted into the cabinet led by Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma as a minister of state (independent charge) on December 30 last year, a move that was opposed by the Congress.
Congress opposed the induction of Surendra Pal Singh TT in the state cabinet
The grand old party had opposed the induction of Surendra Pal Singh TT in the cabinet calling it a “violation of the Model Code of Conduct”. As per the rules, non-legislators can be inducted as ministers only with the condition that they get elected within six months.
Former chief minister and senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot termed the swearing-in of Surendra Pal as an attempt by the BJP to influence the voters ahead of assembly elections in the constituency,
Former chief minister and senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot called Surendra Pal Singh TT's swearing in a clear violation of the Model Code of Conduct and an attempt to influence the voters in the constituency.
A total of 249 polling stations have been set up in the constituency, which has 2.4 lakh voters -- 1,25,850 men, 1,14,966 women, and 10 transgender -- in addition to 180 service voters, he added.
Polling for 199 of the 200 Assembly seats in Rajasthan was held on November 25 last year.
When the results were declared on December 8, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged victorious winning 115 seats, beating the Congress, which could only manage to bag 69 seats.
