Rajasthan Elections / Congress's dominance in CM Ashok Gehlot's stronghold - trouble for BJP

Rajasthan Elections: This time also the assembly elections in Rajasthan are likely to be thorny. Although there is a tradition of changing power here every 5 years, Congress under the leadership of Ashok Gehlot is trying to break this tradition. Whereas the Bharatiya Janata Party is making every effort to capture power. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's constituency falls in Marwar region and BJP is trying to register a big victory here. Last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tried to create an atmosphere in favor of BJP by laying the foundation stone and inaugurating projects worth Rs 5000 crore in Jodhpur.

Marwar region is called the stronghold of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. Apart from Jodhpur, this region includes Jaisalmer, Barmer, Jalore, Pali and Nagaur districts. There are a total of 43 assembly seats in Marwar division which prove to be important for the power of the state. If we look at the last election (2018), the victory here had paved the way for Congress. Here Congress won 8 seats from Jaisalmer-Barmer, 7 from Jodhpur, 6 from Nagaur, and one seat from Jalore-Sirohi. In this way, by securing 22 seats, Congress came close to majority.

Congress' power was visible in Jodhpur

Out of 10 seats in Jodhpur district, Congress had won 7 seats while BJP had won only 2 seats. One seat also went to Hanuman Beniwal's party Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP). Out of 9 seats in Barmer and Jaisalmer, Congress had won 8 seats while BJP got only one seat. However, Congress's account was not even opened in Pali and Sirohi districts.

Out of 6 seats in Pali, 5 went to BJP while an independent candidate was victorious on one seat. Similarly, in Sirohi, out of 3 seats, BJP won 2 and independent won one. If we look at the results of Jalore district, out of the 5 seats here, Congress won only one seat, the remaining 5 seats went to BJP. In this way, out of 14 seats in these 3 districts, only Sanchore seat came in favor of Congress.

Beniwal's RLP had spoiled the game

In the 2018 elections, Hunman Beniwal's party RLP had spoiled the game of both the parties in Marwar region. RLP captured Bhopalgarh assembly seat of Jodhpur. In this election, RLP won 3 seats including Bhopalgarh seat and stood second on Malpura seat (Tonk district). The seats of this region 2 went to the Congress. In this way, out of 33 seats in Marwar region, Congress won 16 seats and BJP won 14 seats. Apart from this, Nagaur district comes in Marwar-Godwal region where there are 10 seats in which Congress won 6 seats while BJP and RLP got 2 seats each. In this way, out of 43 seats, 22 seats went to Congress.

Earlier, in the 2013 assembly elections, BJP had won 38 out of 43 seats in Marwar region, while Congress was limited to 3 seats and 2 seats went to independents. Congress's performance in the then elections was very poor, it had won only 21 seats out of 200, while BJP had captured 163 seats. Independent candidates had won 7 seats.

Earlier in the 2003 elections, BJP had won 32 out of 43 seats. Whereas in 1998, Congress had won 32 seats and BJP's performance was poor and it was stuck on only 9 seats.

Gehlot's son was defeated

Even though Ashok Gehlot is considered dominant in the Marwar region, his son Vaibhav Gehlot has been defeated from Jodhpur parliamentary seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. BJP's Gajendra Singh Shekhawat defeated Vaibhav in the election by a margin of 274,440 votes. Apart from Gehlot, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat is also a big name from this area, he defeated Gehlot's son in 2019. He is the Jal Shakti Minister in the Narendra Modi government at the Centre. Apart from these, veteran Congress leader Harish Chaudhary is also a big name. He is contesting from Baytu seat of Barmer.

BJP strongman Jaswant Singh was once an MP from Jaisalmer Barmer, bordering Pakistan. Besides, this area is also known because of the Mirdha family. It starts with Baldevram Mirdha who was associated with the Jodhpur royal family. His younger brother Nathuram Mirdha presented the first budget of the state. Then his nephew Ramniwas Mirdha became Lok Sabha MP. Now Jyoti Mirdha, who belongs to the same family, is contesting elections from Nagaur on BJP ticket.

RLP can spoil the game

One face is emerging very fast from Marwar region and that face is Hanuman Beniwal. Just before the 2018 elections, he formed the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party and contested the elections and won the elections himself. There was victory at 2 other places also. Later he joined NDA. In the 2019 elections, RLP, which contested the elections with BJP, won one seat. But later he ended his relationship with NDA due to the controversial agricultural law.

Hanuman Beniwal has now strengthened his position in the region, and his party is contesting on more than 70 seats. His presence has become a cause of trouble for both BJP and Congress. To win the elections, both the national parties will have to overcome the challenge of Beniwal.