Anta by-election result: Pramod Jain 'Bhaya' (Congress) defeats BJP's Morpal Suman

Pramod Jain

Congress candidate Pramod Bhaya secured victory in the bypoll for Rajasthan's Anta assembly constituency on Friday, with a margin of over 15,000 votes. The bypoll was necessitated after BJP MLA Kanwar Lal Meena was disqualified following his conviction in a criminal case.

Updates from the counting centre:

- At the end of the 20th round of counting, Pramod Bhaya was leading with a margin of 15,612 votes. BJP's Morpal Suman could only secure 53,959 votes and lost the election.

- Congress's Pramod Bhaya secured 47,577 votes by the end of the 13th of 20 rounds of counting, as against 37,304 of his nearest rival and Congress rebel Naresh Meena, who is contesting as an Independent.

- BJP nominee Morpal Suman was in the third place with 35,503 votes at the end of the 13th round.

- After nine rounds of counting,  Pramod Jain leads with a margin of 6,839 votes.

- Five rounds of counting over. Jain maintains lead with a margin of around 2,000 votes.

- Congress candidate Pramod Jain Bhaya was leading with a small margin of over 100 votes after two rounds of counting in the Anta assembly constituency in Rajasthan's Baran district.

- Pramod Jain of the Indian National Congress is leading in early trends

- According to officials, the counting of votes in Anta bypoll will be held in 20 rounds.

- The postal ballots were being counted first, followed by votes cast through the electronic voting machines.

- Counting of votes began at 8 am today

- Voting for Anta by-elections was held on 11th November. With adequate preparations, voting was done in a peaceful atmosphere. Similarly, during the counting of votes too, police and administration have made all preparations...," said Baran ASP Rajesh Choudhary.

A high voter turnout of 80.21 per cent was recorded in the polling. The constituency has a total of 2,28,264 voters, including 1,16,783 men and 1,11,477 women.

Fifteen candidates are in the fray, with the contest primarily seen between BJP's Morpal Suman and Congress's Pramod Jain Bhaya.

Congress rebel Naresh Meena is also in the fray. Meena had contested the Deoli-Uniara assembly bypolls in Tonk district last year and courted controversy after he slapped an officer on duty, while accusing him of threatening voters.

This is the eighth assembly bypoll in Rajasthan under Bhajanlal Sharma-led BJP government that came to power in December 2023.

Bypolls to seven assembly seats were held in November last year. Five of the seven assembly seats went to bypolls after sitting MLAs were elected MPs in the Lok Sabha general elections in May 2024, while bypolls to two seats were held due to the demise of sitting MLAs.

The ruling BJP had won five out of those seven seats.

In the 200-member Rajasthan Assembly, BJP currently holds 118 seats, Congress 66, Bharat Adivasi Party 4, BSP 2, RLD 1, while one seat (Anta) remains vacant.