Congress will win both seats in bye-election, says Sachin Pilot

Jaipur: Deputy chief minister and state Congress president Sachin Pilot on Tuesday said Mandawa and Khinvsar assembly bypolls would be a test of the work done by his government and exuded confidence that his party would win both the seats with “huge” margins.

The two seats are going to polls on October 21. The bypolls were necessitated after Khinvsar (Nagaur) MLA Hanuman Beniwal and Mandawa (Jhunjhunu) MLA Narendra Kumar (BJP) were elected to Lok Sabha in May.

“The bypolls are test of the work of the state government and we are prepared for that. We will win the seats with huge margins. When the Congress was in opposition for five years, we won all the bypolls and this time, we are in government and there is no reason for not winning it,” Pilot told reporters here before departing for Mumbai. “The state government’s first and foremost priority is to make the lives of people better. We ought to do whatever is possible to help people at personal, social and administrative levels,” he said.

Pilot emphasized that it was important for every public representative to stay connected with people.

Congress has fielded former MLAs Rita Chaudhary in Mandawa and Harendra Mirdha in Khinvsar, the BJP has given ticket to Congress rebel Sushila Devi in Mandawa and is contesting the bypolls in alliance with MP Hanuman Beniwal's Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) in Khinvsar.