Nasirabad bypoll an acid test for both BJP, Congress

AJMER: Voting for by-elections of Nasirabad assembly constituency will be conducted on September 13 and the district election office on Sunday announced the schedule of this election with it the election code of conduct is now in force. The by-election is going to be tough fight between BJP and Congress as the former wanted to retain the seat while Congress will try to get back Nasirabad, its traditional fort.People of Nasirabad are think state party chief Sachin Pilot might contest this poll to raise confidence among its voters.
The election is also going to be the acid test for Pilot on whether he can regain at least one constituency in Ajmer, while for BJP it is evaluation time for its ‘acche din’ programme in the constituency. The seat of Nasirabad became vacant after MLA Sanwar Lal Jat won the Lok Sabha polls from Ajmer constituency and resigned as MLA from this assembly seat.
District election officer and collector Bhawani Singh Detha on Sunday said with the declaration of by-election, the code of conduct is now enforced in the constituency. “The voting will be on September 13 and counting will be on September 16 while the notification will be released on Aug 20,” Detha said.
Nasirabad assembly constituency is a traditional bastion of the Congress seat, heavily influenced by former Gujjar leader Govind Singh Gujjar and residents of the region are predominantly from the Gujjar community. For the first time in the last assembly elections, Sanwar Lal Jat of BJP defeated Congress candidate Mahendra Singh Gujjar with a good margin of 28,900 votes .
Jat appointed as irrigation minister in Raje government was again nominated as BJP candidate for LS polls and he defeated Sachin Pilot with more than two lakh votes
Sources said local Gujjar leaders are now contacting Pilot to seek the party ticket from the constituency. “Pilot wanted the seat back for Congress and a survey is conducted in the constituency to begin strategies to regain the seat,” a source said. Pilot is taking opinions of grassroot party workers to name a candidate from the seat from among the prominent leaders.
In the meantime, BJP which wanted to retain this seat is looking for a strong candidate in Nasirabad. “Ramchandra Choudhary is looking forward to becoming a BJP candidate from the seat as a reward for what he had done,” a BJP source said. However, inside sources said Sanwar Lal Jat is pushing for his son Ram Swaroop Lamba to be the party candidate from the seat.