Rajasthan elections: BSP candidate dies, polling in Ramgarh assembly seat adjourned

Jaipur, Nov 29: The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)'s candidate for the Rajasthan Assembly elections 2018 from Ramgarh seat of Alwar district has passed away, said reports. Lakshman Singh is said to have died due to a heart attack.

"There are provisions in Section 52 in The Representation of the People Act, 1951, that if a candidate of a national recognised party dies after filing nominations, Returning Officer will adjourn polling..EC will give 7 days time to concerned party for nomination filing of new candidate and then announce fresh polling dates. The same procedure will be followed in this case. Polling has been adjourned and the Election Commission is finalising the new date," Alwar District Magistrate Prakash Rajpurohit told ANI.

Rajasthan is scheduled to go to polls on December 7. The last date for filing nominations in the state was November 19. The date of counting has been fixed on December 11.

The BSP won three seats in the 2013 assembly elections by securing a 3.37 per cent vote share, which was 7.60 per cent in the 2008 elections, when the party had won six seats. In the last assembly elections, the party had contested in 195 constituencies. In the state, there are 34 Scheduled Castes and 25 Scheduled Tribe seats out of the total 200 seats.

The party is contesting assembly elections in the state since 1990, but it registered its first victory in 1998 by winning two seats. In 1998, the party had fielded 108 candidates and secured 2.17 per cent vote share. In 2003 elections, the BSP fought in 124 constituencies and won two seats and increased its vote share to 3.98 per cent.