Date:12/05/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/05/12/stories/2006051207470500.htm

Other States - Rajasthan

BJP wins Deeg by-election

Special Correspondent

Party candidate Divya Singh defeats Congress rival by a margin of 6721 votes

With this victory the total strength of the ruling party in the 200-strong Rajasthan Assembly has gone up to 121

The by-election was necessitated due to the death of Arun Singh who had won the seat in 2003 on Indian National Lok Dal ticket

JAIPUR: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Rajasthan continued its winning spree in the State by romping home the Deeg seat in Bharatpur district in a by-poll. The party candidate Divya Singh defeated her rival Laxman Singh of the Congress by a margin of 6721 votes in an almost direct contest in which rest of the six candidates lost their deposit. Polling in the constituency, located in east Rajasthan, was held on Monday.

Ms.Singh is the wife of Visvendra Singh, BJP MP and scion of the Bharatpur royal family. She too has represented Bharatpur in the Lok Sabha in the past as a BJP member. With her victory the total strength of the ruling party in the 200-strong Rajasthan Assembly has gone up to 121. Deeg is the latest of the many victories Vasundhara Raje has had in the State after taking over as Chief Minister in December 2003. Since her take over, barring one Assembly seat, the BJP has been winning all the by-elections and most of the elections to panchayats and civic bodies in the State.

Ms. Raje is away to Israel. State BJP president Mahesh Sharma attributed the party's victory in Deeg to the performance of the Government here and the hard work of the parytmen. Dr.Sharma also claimed that the electorate in Deeg voted for the party though Deeg is considered the pocket borough of the Bharatpur royal family.

The Congress leadership, which chose to go for Laxman Singh, who had lost the election from the same seat in 2003--with a smaller margin of 4288 votes - , refrained from commenting on the defeat. Instead, the partymen at the Indira Gandhi Bhawan, the State headquarters of the Pradesh Congress Committee, got busy during the day in distributing sweets to celebrate the grand victory of party president Sonia Gandhi in Rae Bareli.

Ms.Singh polled 33,332 votes in Deeg against 26,611 votes polled by the Congress candidate. None of the remaining six candidates could cross 1000 mark. Out of 121793-strong electorate, 61689 had voted in the current poll.

The by-election was necessitated due to the death of Arun Singh, also from the Bharatpur royal family, who had won the seat in 2003 on Indian National Lok Dal ticket. Ms.Singh was with the INLD during the 2003 elections in Rajasthan.

The Returning Officer, Babu Lal Goyal, informed that one of the voting machines, which had 251 votes registered in it, could not be opened due to some technical snag. The result was being declared after consulting the Election Commission, he informed.