The fate of Gujarat Chief Minister Shankar- sinh Vaghela will be decided today when about 1.48 lakh electorate choose their representative in the bye-election to the states Radhanpur assembly seat.
The election will be an acid test for Vaghela who broke ranks with the Bharatiya Janata Party to oust the Suresh Mehta Ministry after obtaining unconditional support from the Congress and 12 independent MLAs in the 182-strong house.
The bye-election was necessitated due to the resignation of Lovingji Solanki, an independent MLA, who vacated the seat to enable Vaghela to become the member of the state assembly, a condition Vaghela must fulfil by April 15.Besides Vaghela, there are 41 other candidates in the fray including Shankarbhai Chaudh- ary of the BJP. Thirty-four of the candidates are fighting as independents in this Banaskantha border district of Gujarat.
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Chief election officer Balwant Singh had declared all the polling stations in the constituency as sensitive and 23 as hyper-sensitive. He said elaborate security arrangements have been made to hold a fair and free poll.
Two companies of rapid action force, two female companies of CRPF and 23 companies of state reserve police, besides local police had been deployed to maintain law and order, Singh said.
The counting of votes would take place at Palanpur district town on April 7.