Jaipur, Dec 3 (PTI) Campaigning for Sardarshahar assembly seat bypoll in Rajasthan's Churu ended at 5 pm on Saturday, collector Sidharth Sihag said.

Polling will be held on Monday from 8 am to 5 pm and the results will be declared on December 8.

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The Sardarshahar seat was held by Congress MLA Bhanwar Lal Sharma (77) who passed away on October 9 after prolonged illness, which necessitated the bypoll.

The Congress has fielded Late Sharma's son Anil Kumar while former MLA Ashok Kumar is the BJP candidate.

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Eight others candidates are in the fray: Lalchand of the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP), Sanwarmal Meghwal of Communist Party of India (Marxist), Parmana Ram of Indian People's Green Party and Independent candidates Subhash Chandra, Vijay Pal Singh Sheoran, Umesh Sahu, Prem Singh and Surendra Singh Rajpurohit.

The ruling Congress has exuded confidence of retaining the seat while the opposition BJP said it has made all efforts to wrest the seat from the Congress.

The RLP's national convener and Nagaur MP Hanuman Beniwal has thrown his weight behind the the party candidate.

"People are happy with the work being done by the Congress party. We are confident of winning the seat," PCC chief Govind Singh Dotasra said. Congress leader and Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had recently addressed a public meeting in Sardarshahar.

BJP state president Satish Poonia and other leaders of the saffron party, too, had addressed rallies and campaigned in support of the party candidate.

In the 200-member Rajasthan legislative assembly, the Congress has 107 MLAs, BJP 71, RLP three, CPI(M) and Bhartiya Tribal Party two each, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) one and 13 are Independents.

The bypoll is being held for the one vacant seat.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)