Though BJP scored better than Congress in the municipal elections in Rajasthan, BJP lost both Dholpur and Jhalawar, forts of Vasundhara
Rajasthan : The BJP got much needed relief in Rajasthan local body polls’ results declared on Thursday. But the modest victory has also left a few ‘worrying’ questions for the leadership. The Vasundhara Raje led BJP did manage to win a simple majority in the corporations and other civic bodies’ elections but suffered setbacks in her pocket boroughs of Jhalawar and Dholpur.
This has caused enough worries in the party as it clearly reflects that the image of the dynamic chief minister and her son Dushyant Singh may have been dented by the raging controversy over Lalitgate.
This result has somewhat diluted the euphoria of the clean sweep in recent Madhya Pradesh civic polls which gave the party reason to believe that the Vyapam scam was not as much of an issue with the people as it was made out to be.
Another reason being pointed out by party insiders was that unlike MP, the Congress may be down but is certainly not out in Rajasthan. In some manner it is a comeback for the Congress since the party had failed to win even a single Lok Sabha seat in 2014 general elections.
The Congress secured a majority in Jhalawar district by bagging two of the three civic bodies there. Jhalawar, which was Raje’s Lok Sabha constituency earlier is now represented by her son Dushyant. Senior BJP leader and Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the results and trends of Rajasthan civic body polls showed how people replied to the Congress campaign of last two-three months against Raje over Lalit Modi controversy.
He reminded that BJP had recently won civic body polls in Madhya Pradesh as well despite the Congress campaign against its Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan over Vyapam scam. On the other hand, Rajasthan Congress chief Sachin Pilot, said, ” BJP got only 36 per cent votes and Congress is only around two per cent less than it. Overall 64 percent people have voted against the BJP, which shows the mood of the people.” Pilot also said, “Congresss won both the Municpal Council seats in the CM’s constituency while it also won both seats in Lok Sabha MP Dushyant Singh’s constituency. This reflects the hard work of Congress workers. We have come a long way from our performance during last Assembly polls.”
Ruling BJP won 1,443 out of the total of 3,351 wards while opposition parties including Congress and Independents won 1,908 wards in the Rajasthan civic body polls, results for which were announced on Thursday. The 129 civic bodies in the state had gone to polls on August 17. In the final tally of results, out of 3,351 wards in the civic bodies, BJP won 1,443 wards, Congress 1,164, Independents 703, NCP 19, BSP 16, CPI 5, CPM one ward, according to a Rajasthan State Election Commission spokesman.
