The by-election on the Anta seat of Rajasthan Assembly, that fell vacant following disqualification of the then BJP MLA Kanwar Lal Meena, will be held on November 11.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the schedule for the by-polls on Monday, along with the dates of Bihar assembly elections.
As per the election schedule announced by the ECI, the nominations on this seat from Baran district would begin on October 13 with issuance of requisite notification. The candidature would be filed till October 21, scrutiny would be done on October 23 and withdrawal could be made by October 27. The polling would be held on November 11 and the counting of votes would be done on November 14.
Kanwar Lal Meena was declared disqualified for the membership of Rajasthan Assembly on May 23 earlier this year, following his conviction in a 20-year-old criminal case.
Assembly Speaker Vasudev Devnani had disqualified him as an MLA with retrospective effect from May 2, 2025 when the Rajasthan High Court delivered its verdict on his appeal—thereby terminating his membership.
The Speaker had also declared the seat as vacant under due intimation to the ECI.
The Speaker’s ruling on disqualification (and subsequent termination) was delivered soon after the receipt of the Rajasthan Advocate General’s opinion in this case. He had sought legal opinion from the AG.
The case against Meena was filed in February 2005 for threatening at gunpoint the then SDM Ram Niwas Mehta (on February 3, 2005) to concede to his demand of re-polling in the election for Deputy Sarpanch in Khatakhedi village near Manohar Thana.
The lower trial court had acquitted Meena in the case. However, the ADJ Aklera in the year 2020 convicted and sentenced him to a 3-year jail term and a cash penalty of Rs 10,000.
Meena filed an appeal before the Rajasthan High Court, challenging the ADJ court’s verdict. The High Court dismissed his appeal on May 2, endorsing the punishment awarded by the lower court.
Meena had tried to seek relief from the Supreme Court, however, his plea was rejected by the apex court.