Rajasthan Civic Polls: BJP Emerges Largest Party But Narrow Vote Gap With Congress Highlights Close Contest

Jaipur: The ruling BJP emerged as the largest party in Rajasthan’s civic body elections, but with less than one percentage point difference in vote share with Congress, it failed to get an outright sweep.

BJP leads but falls short

The BJP secured 35.18 percent of the votes against 34.24 percent for the Congress, a difference of just 0.94 percentage points. Of around 1.06 crore votes polled across the state, the BJP received about 37.35 lakh votes, the Congress 36.35 lakh, and independents 29.06 lakh. In terms of wards, the BJP won 566 more seats than the Congress.

The elections were the first to be held simultaneously across all 309 urban local bodies under the “one state, one election” initiative and were considered a major test for the BJP government led by Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma.

While the BJP remained ahead of the Congress in overall vote share, wards won, and the number of civic bodies where it secured a clear majority, the results showed that the party did not enjoy an overwhelming advantage in urban Rajasthan.

Congress gains in key cities

The Congress outperformed the BJP in cities such as Ajmer, Pali, and Bikaner, traditionally considered BJP strongholds. In Jaipur, the state capital, the BJP secured a majority by just two seats.

Of the major municipal corporations, the BJP secured clear majorities in Jaipur, Udaipur, Bhilwara, and Kota, while the Congress won a clear majority in Bikaner. The Congress emerged as the largest party in Pali and Ajmer, while the BJP was the single largest party in Alwar. The two parties won an equal number of seats in Jodhpur, while independents emerged as the largest group in Bharatpur.

The BJP won a majority in 12 of the state's 47 municipal councils, compared with six for the Congress and one for the Aam Aadmi Party. No party secured a majority in the remaining 28 councils, leaving independents in a crucial position.

Independents hold the balance

The near-dead heat between BJP and Congress becomes even more significant in the context of the independent vote, which accounted for more than a quarter of the statewide vote. Local candidates, rebel nominees, and independent contestants commanded a substantial share of the electorate and secured 2,273 of the 10,245 ward seats and now are all set to play a decisive role in the formation of boards in around 143 urban local bodies, prompting both the BJP and Congress to reach out to them.

Leaders react to results

Rajasthan Congress president Govind Singh Dotasara described the results as a setback for the BJP, saying the party's “magic” had failed to work in the civic polls and that voters had “shown the government a mirror”.

Dotasara said voters generally tended to favour the ruling party in local elections because they expected elected representatives to facilitate development work through the state government. “This time, the reverse has happened,” he said.

He also pointed to the BJP's vote share in previous elections, saying it had secured around 41.7 per cent in the Assembly election and 50.14 per cent in the Lok Sabha election, while its vote share in the civic polls had fallen to around 35 per cent. He attributed the decline to public dissatisfaction with the BJP government over its two years in office.

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In counter to Dotasara, BJP state president Madan Rathore termed the results a “historic victory” for the party and said the people of Rajasthan had given it a strong mandate.

Rathore claimed the BJP's performance had improved by nearly two-and-a-half to three times compared with the previous civic polls and said the results reflected public support for the party's policies, development work and leadership.

Post-poll negotiations ahead

The results, however, also underline the fragmented nature of Rajasthan's urban electorate, with the narrow BJP-Congress vote gap and the strong showing by independents leaving several civic bodies open to post-poll negotiations.