Jaipur, Jan 8 (UNI) In a setback for the BJP, Rajasthan’s Minister of State for Agricultural Marketing Surendra Pal Singh TT lost the by-poll from the Karanpur assembly seat to his Congress rival in the vote count on Monday.
The BJP candidate lost to Congress candidate Rupinder Singh Kunnar by 11,283 votes, according to the Election Commission of India.
Kunnar got 94 thousand 950 votes, while Surender Pal Singh could manage 83 thousand 667 votes.
The Rajasthan minister was ahead in the first round of counting, but continued to trail until the 14th round. He regained a slight lead in the 15th round, but again fell behind in all three subsequent rounds and lost the election.
Aam Aadmi Party’s Prithipal Singh got 11 thousand 912 votes. One thousand and 34 votes were cast in NOTA.
The election to the seat had been postponed due to the death of Congress candidate Gurmeet Singh Kunnar ahead of the state assembly election on November 25.
The BJP has stormed to power in the state by winning 115 of the 199 seats on which polling was held last November. With Monday’s win, the Congress’ seat count has gone up to 70.
The bypoll was held on January 5.
Days before the by-poll, Surender Pal had been included in Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma’s cabinet when it was expanded on December 30. He was given independent charge of Agriculture Marketing, Agriculture Commodity Department, Irrigation Department, and the Indira Gandhi Canal, Minority Affairs, and Waqf Board.
