A polling percentage of over 64 was recorded till 5 pm in the bypolls to the seven assembly seats in Rajasthan on Wednesday, election officials said.
There was no report of any untoward incident except from Deoli-Uniara in Tonk where an independent candidate slapped an area magistrate, a Rajasthan Administrative Service officer, for making efforts for voting as the locals had boycotted polling.
Voting began amid tight security arrangements at 7 am in Jhunjhunu, Dausa, Deoli-Uniara, Khinvsar, Chorasi, Salumber and Ramgarh assembly constituencies and by 5 pm, the voter turnout was 64.82 per cent.
Ramgarh witnessed the highest turnout of 71.45 per cent, whereas it was 71.04 per cent in Khinvsar, 68.55 in Chorasi, 64.19 in Salumbar, 60.61 in Deoli Uniara, 61.8 in Jhunjhunu and 55.63 per cent in Dausa.
Voting in these seven seats is scheduled till 6 pm. Counting will take place on November 23.
In Deoli-Uniara, independent candidate Naresh Meena allegedly slapped Amit Chaudhary, sub divisional officer of Malpura, who is engaged in the election duty as the area magistrate. Meena, a Congress rebel contesting as independent, also caught the collar of Chaudhary.
District election officer and Tonk collector Saumya Jha said voters in Samravta village had announced they would boycott polling in support of a demand but the polling booth and approach road to the booth remained open.
The village currently falls in Nagar fort Tehsil and the villagers are demanding bringing the village under Uniara Tehsil because the Uniara tehsil office is closer to the village.
While the by-elections will not impact the stability of the BJP government, they serve as a crucial test for Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma and BJP state president Madan Rathore, especially after the party's disappointing performance in the Lok Sabha elections, where it lost 11 out of 25 seats.
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