Counting of votes underway for Rajouri Assembly seat

New Delhi: The counting of votes for the Rajouri Garden assembly constituency, where bypoll was held on April 9, is underway.

According to the election office, counting began at 8 AM.

The process is expected to be wrapped up by 10.30 AM, an election official said.

Around 47 per cent of the west Delhi seat’s over 1.6 lakh electors had cast their vote on April 9.

The seat fell vacant early this year after AAP’s Jarnail Singh quit as MLA to contest Punjab Assembly poll against SAD patron Parkash Singh Badal.

The byelection saw a three-cornered contest among the AAP, BJP-Akali combine and the Congress.

For the BJP and the Congress, success in the bye-election is crucial for their continuing relevance in the city’s politics while it will be a test for the AAP’s popularity.

The AAP had come up with a new face – Harjeet Singh – for the election while the Congress fielded Meenakshi Chandela, who belongs to a politically influential family of the area.

The BJP-SAD combine’s candidate Manjinder Singh Sirsa is a veteran face in city’s politics. He had won the seat in 2013.