Jaipur: Twelve heavyweights including two union ministers, the Loksabha Speaker and the former Speaker of the Rajasthan assembly are in the fray in the second phase of the Loksabha election in Rajasthan. The polling on 13 seats of the second phase will be on April 26 and due to low voting in the first phase, the contest on these seats has become crucial and interesting.
Of the 13 Lok Sabha seats that are going into polls, two are having a triangular fight and the rest are in a direct fight between Congress and BJP. The twelve Big faces are in the fray on eight Loksabha seats namely Kota, Banswara - Dungarpur, Bhilwara, Barmer - Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Jalore, Chittorgarh and Tonk - Sawai Madhopur.
All these 13 seats are with the BJP for the last two Loksabha elections, so expectations and stakes are very high for the party, while the Congress has nothing to lose but to gain only. The seats where the biggies are in the fray
Kota
Loksabha Speaker Om Birla is contesting the Loksabha elections from Kota for the third consecutive time. He first became an MP in 2014. In 2019 he won by 2.79 lakh votes and was made the Speaker of the Lok Sabha. The Congress is batting on a BJP turncoat Prahald Gunjal in the seat.
Jodhpur
Union minister for Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat is also in the contest for the third consecutive time on this seat. In 2014, he became MP from Jodhpur for the first time and was made an MoS. In 2019 he won by by 2.74 lakh votes. The Congress has fielded a new face Karan Singh from this seat.
Barmer
MoS for Agriculture in the centre, Kailash Choudhary became MP in 2019 by winning this seat with a margin of 3.23 lakh votes. This time the seat is having a triangular fight because of independent candidate Ravinder Singh Bhati who is an MLA also and has a good following among the youth. The Congress is batting on Ummedaram Beniwal who switched over from Rashtriya Loktantrik Party of Hanuman Beniwal.
Chittorgarh
BJP state president CP Joshi is in the fray from this seat for the third time in a row. He won the last election by 5. 76 lakh votes. This time he contesting against Udailal Aanjna of Congress. Anjana was a cabinet minister in Ashok Gehlot's government so an interesting fight has been expected here.
Banswara
This tribal-dominated seat has become important as the BJP here has fielded Mahendra Jeet Singh Malviya, who was a minister in the previous Ashok Gehlot government but changed the party before the Loksabha election. On the other hand, the Congress is supporting Bhartiya Adivasi Party candidate Rajkumar Roat who is an MLA also. The seat is having a triangular fight because of the rebel of Congress Arvind Damor.
Bhilwara
Congress has fielded former Assembly Speaker CP Joshi from this seat during the previous government. He lost the recently held assembly election from Rajsamand elections. He was elected MP from Bhilwara in 2009 and became a minister in the Manmohan Singh government.
Jalore
Vaibhav Gehlot, son of former CM Ashok Gehlot is in fray from this seat against BJP's Lumba Ram Choudhary. Vaibhav has changed the seat this time from Jodhpur where he lost the last election against Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
Tonk - Sawai Madhopur
Former DGP of Rajasthan Harish Meena is contesting this seat against BJP's two-time MP Sukhbir Singh Jounpuriya. Meena was BJP MP from Dausa in 2014 but switched over to Congress in 2018 and became MLA from Deoli and this time also he is MLA from the same seat.
