Jaipur:
The counting of votes for the September 13 by-elections to the four assembly constituencies of Rajasthan will begin on Tuesday, an election officer said today.
The counting of votes will begin in four district headquarters of Jhunjhunu, Ajmer, Kota and Bharatpur tomorrow at 0800 hrs, Chief Electoral Officer Dr Govind Sharma said.
The results would decide the fate of 23 candidates including four each of the ruling BJP and the Opposition Congress.
By-polls were held in the four Assembly constituencies of Weir, Kota-South, Nasirabad and Surajgarh which recorded an average of 65.25 per cent polling.
The by-polls were necessitated after the sitting lawmakers Sanwar Lal Jat (Nasirabad), Om Birla (Kota-South), Santosh Ahlawat (Surajgarh) and Bahadur Singh Koli (Weir) -- resigned from the assembly following their election to the Lok Sabha.
It was a close contest between the main opposition Congress and the ruling BJP, which would try to retain all four seats and maintain a tally of 163 in the House of 200. Also, it would be a litmus test for Pradesh Congress Committee chief Sachin Pilot to prove his leadership in the state.
In the 2013 assembly polls, the Congress suffered one of its worst defeat and managed to win just 21 of 200 Assembly seats while the BJP won 163. It also won all 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state.