Rajasthan CM Bhajan Lal Sharma interacted with tribal families on the last day of campaigning for Assembly elections in Chorasi Dungarpur on Monday. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangements
JAIPUR
Elections to seven Assembly seats in Rajasthan, held on Wednesday, have given a credibility test to veteran leaders of the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress. Amid triangular contests in several constituencies, the bypoll results will have an impact on state politics, though the stability of the BJP government will not be affected.
As the BJP tries to make up for its 11-seat loss in the country’s 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress-led INDIA bloc has broken up five months after the polls. Congress and two other alliance partners are contesting separately.
Congress, Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP), Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) and CPI (M) together won 11 out of 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state. In the absence of a seat-sharing arrangement for the Assembly polls, BAP has fielded its candidates in Chorasi and Salumber and RLP in Khinwsar, which is considered a stronghold.
Besides Chorasi, Salumber and Khinwsar, by-elections are underway in Jhunjhunu, Ramgarh, Dausa and Deoli-Uniara. Five of the seven seats are vacant after the election of MPs, all from the Congress and its allies in the INDIA bloc, as Members of the Lok Sabha. Two seats fell vacant after the death of a sitting MLA.
In the Congress camp, former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot was absent from the election campaign due to his commitments in poll-bound Maharashtra, while former representative Sachin Pilot addressed several election meetings in Dausa and Deoli-Uniara. Pradesh Congress Committee President Govind Singh Dotasra is the main face of the party in the campaign in all the seven seats.
In several public meetings, Mr Dotasra claimed a “clean sweep” for the Congress, while criticizing the BJP government for its poor performance in health, education and infrastructure during its 10-month rule.
Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Tika Ram Jully accused the BJP leader of trying to polarize the vote by taking a communal tone in his speeches and making hateful posts on social media.
Caste equality
There was a straight fight between BJP and Congress candidates in Ramgarh and Dausa, while the other five seats witnessed a triangular contest. In almost all the seats, the candidates, including those fighting as Independents, and political leaders have made strategies based on caste equality and different community populations, while paying little attention to local development issues.
RLP supremo Hanuman Beniwal’s wife Kanika Beniwal is facing an uphill battle against BJP’s Rewat Ram Danga in Khinswar, while Congress’s Ratan Chaudhary has emerged as an important third player. Mrs. Beniwal considered her husband’s image as a Jat leader working for the welfare of farmers, as he has pulled out of the National Democratic Alliance on the agriculture sector legislation in 2020.
Fire campaign
The tribal-dominated Chorasi and Salumber seats have witnessed fierce election campaigns by BAP candidates Anil Katara and Jitesh Katara, who have challenged the BJP’s efforts to make inroads into the tribal communities. BAP leader and Banswara MP Rajkumar Roat questioned the BJP government’s policy towards tribal areas during the campaign.
The contest in Deoli-Uniara seat in Tonk district will be interesting as Congress rebel Naresh Meena is challenging candidates of both major parties. Mr. Meena took out a rally of 5,000 vehicles in a show of strength as an Independent last week and asked members of Meena’s dominant community, along with Gujjars, to vote for him.
Two Congress candidates – Amit Ola from Jhunjhunu and Aryaan Khan from Ramgarh – are the sons of MPs elected in the 2023 Assembly elections. The BJP candidate in Salumber, Shanta Devi, is the wife of three-time MLA Amrit Lal Meena, whose death necessitated a bypoll.
69 candidates in the fray
There are 69 candidates in 7 constituencies, where 1,915 polling stations have been built. The election results will be announced on November 23. After seven vacant seats this year, the opposition Congress’s strength in the 200-member Assembly has been reduced from 69 to 65, while the BJP holds 114 seats and eight. Independent.
Published – November 13, 2024 12:45 PM IST
