Tight security has been put in place for the Sardarshahar Assembly bypoll in Rajasthan's Churu on Monday where the Congress and the BJP are the main contenders.
The bypoll has been necessitated by Congress MLA Bhanwar Lal Sharma (77) who passed away on October 9 after a prolonged illness. Polling will be held on Monday from 8 am to 5 pm and counting of votes will take place on December 8.
The Congress has fielded Bhanwar Lal Sharma's son Anil Kumar while the BJP has pitted former MLA Ashok Kumar for the bypoll.
Eight other candidates in the fray are Lalchand of the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP), Sanwarmal Meghwal of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Parmana Ram of Indian People's Green Party and Independent candidates Subhash Chandra, Vijay Pal Singh Sheoran, Umesh Sahu, Prem Singh and Surendra Singh Rajpurohit.
"All preparations for the bypoll are in place. Elaborate security arrangements have been made," an official said.
In the 200-member Rajasthan legislative assembly, the Congress has 107 MLAs, BJP 71, RLP three, CPI(M) and Bhartiya Tribal Party two each, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) one and 13 are Independents.
