Polling concludes at Rajasthan's Karanpur assembly seat with 80.50 pc voter turnout

Sriganganagar (Rajasthan) [India], January 6 (ANI): The bypolls for the Karanpur Assembly seat in Rajasthan concluded on Friday, with the Election Commission reporting a total voter turnout of 80.50 per cent.
The Rajasthan polls were initially conducted for 199 out of 200 assembly seats on November 25, with the elections in the Karanpur constituency being postponed due to the demise of Congress candidate Gurmeet Singh Koonar.
Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Gupta said that 80.50 percent voter turnout was recorded in the Karanpur Assembly constituency, where Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Surendra Pal Singh was in fray against the Congress' Rupinder Singh on Friday.
He said that 418 Form 12D for postal ballots for absentee voters like senior citizens, PwD (persons with disability), and essential services voters, were approved by the Returning Officer.
"Out of them 402 (284 above 80 years of age and 118 PWD) exercised their franchise as seven voters remained absent during home voting and nine voters died," the official added.
Counting for the votes will be done on January 8.
The BJP's nominee, Singh, has already been inducted into the Rajasthan cabinet after the Bharatiya Janata Party won the assembly polls, bagging 115 of the 199 seats where the elections were held.
Results for the 199 seats in Rajasthan came last month. Congress came a distant second with 69 seats.
A first-time MLA from Sanganer, Bhajan Lal Sharma, took the oath as the Chief Minister of Rajasthan in Jaipur on December 15.
The oath of office was administered by Governor Kalraj Mishra.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, along with BJP National President JP Nadda, were among the dignitaries at the swearing-in ceremony.
Diya Kumari and Prem Chand Bairwa were also sworn in as deputy chief ministers of the state. (ANI)