Raje return or Cong poll vault? Verdict today Preparations done at counting centres
FIGHT The Rajasthan assembly elections this time revolved around three faces – Sachin Pilot, Ashok Gehlot and CM Raje JAIPUR
: The counting of votes to elect the new government in Rajasthan will either reinforce the 20-year trend of the state of never voting the same party to power for the second consecutive term or break it.
The Congress will meet its legislators in Jaipur on Wednesday, while the BJP has called a meeting of its core committee on Tuesday afternoon here.
Since 1998, Rajasthan has alternated between the BJP and Congress. The last four Assembly elections have a fight between Vasundhara Raje and Ashok Gehlot, but this time, a new player Sachin Pilot jumped into the fray. Pilot was made the state Congress president in 2014 after the Lok Sabha elections, and under his leadership, the party won most of the bypolls held between 2014 and 2018.
The results 2018, therefore, will be a test of Pilot’s leadership. Questions like will he be able to steer the party to victory, and if he does, will he get credit for that, are on everyone’s mind. The BJP often made fun of the fact that the party had not declared a CM face.
“There are six contenders for the CM’s post in Congress which is like Kaun Banega Crorepati,” Vasundhara Raje said in one of her 75 public meetings during the campaign.
In the BJP, the results will determine if chief minister Vasundhara Raje be able to override a strong anti-incumbency wave against her. Her inaccessibility has been the biggest issue this election. During the poll campaign, some of her cabinet colleagues also discreetly mentioned how even they didn’t have easy access to her. This build a perception against her across the state, and the Gaurav Yatra launched on August 4 was to bust that perception.
“Which leader goes to people’s doorstep with her achievements?” she asked in an interview to HT a few days ago, as a counter to her being inaccessible.
The Rajasthan elections revolved around these three faces – Pilot, Gehlot, and Raje. Pilot, apart from helming the party’s campaign, also made the election more interesting when he jumped on the bandwagon as a candidate from Tonk, where the party has fielded a Muslim for last 46 years.
The BJP changed its candidate following this announcement and locked Yoonus Khan in the fight with Pilot. In Raje’s home turf, Jhalrapatan, a constituency she has held since 2003, the Congress fielded Rajput strongman Manvendra Singh.
Singh’s exit from the BJP was a consequence of Rajputs’ anger with the party over several issues, slight to Jaswant Singh in 2014 Lok Sabha election being the biggest.
In 2013, BJP got 45.17% votes and 163 seats, its best show so far. The party, however, lost three seats in by-elections, bringing its current strength to 160 in the 200member Assembly. The Congress won 21 seats with 33.07% vote share. The party’s current strength in the Assembly is 25 now.
The three by-elections in Rajasthan earlier this year was a wake-up call for the Raje government. The BJP lost 17 Assembly segments, including eight constituencies each in the Lok Sabha constituencies of Ajmer and Alwar. If these assembly seats in Lok Sabha segments are counted, the BJP lost 20 out of the 22 that went to polls since Vasundhara took over.
Party National President Amit Shah swung into action in September, holding booth meetings to revitalize the cadres after the by-election rout. He visited the state six times, covering all seven divisions of the state before the elections were announced on October 6.
The BJP dropped 51 of its MLAs, including four ministers. But many of them have queered the party’s pitch by contesting as independents. In Congress, too, 90 candidates who contested the 2013 election were dropped in 2018. Two of them are sitting MLAs. The party is also grappling with the rebels.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the star campaigner of BJP, addressing 12 public meetings in six days. He covered 12 districts and 106 Assembly constituencies. The PM tried to make poll issues out of videos of two Congress leaders, CP Joshi and BD Kalla, and attacked the Gandhi family, calling Rahul Gandhi ‘naamdar’ (dynast) in all his addresses.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi addressed 11 rallies in three days, covering 10 districts and 68 seats. He continued to attack the PM on Rafale and crony capitalists.
In 16 days, eight top leaders addressed 275 election meetings, making it a high-decibel campaign. On December 11, when the counting of votes will begin at 8 am, Sachin Pilot and Ashok Gehlot will be at state Congress office, and Raje will be home and other BJP leaders will be at the party office.
BJP president Madan Lal Saini said: “On the basis of feedback from our workers, we are confident of forming the government again.”
Congress spokesperson Archana Sharma said BJP’s failure and Congress effective role as opposition in Rajasthan will ascertain party’s win. “BJP had no issues and failed to deliver in last five years. Congress has always worked for the development of people, state and the country,” she said.
Anticipating victory following the verdict by all exit polls, the Congress top leaders will reach Jaipur on Monday night and the party is likely to hold a meeting of legislators on Wednesday.
“The party leaders will monitor results from a special war room created in the party state office,” said a senior state Congress leader, who was not willing to be quoted. “We are all prepared for the celebrations on Tuesday and have ordered sweets, fireworks, and gulal (colors),” he said. The BJP’s state core committee is also expected to meet in Jaipur on Tuesday evening after the results are announced, party leaders said.
The Election Commission is all set to hold the counting of votes in Rajasthan assembly elections on Tuesday. Chief electoral officer Anand Kumar on Monday said preparations for counting have been completed, the counting of votes will begin at 8am.
He said there are two centres for counting votes in Jaipur and Jodhpur, while there are one centre each in the remaining 31 districts. There will be 35 counting centres for 199 assembly constituencies.
Adequate security arrangements have been made at the counting centres and nearby areas, Kumar said. He said the process will start with the counting of postal ballots and later from electronic voting machines (EVMs). For the first time in the state, e-postal ballots has been received from government employees and security of these ballots have been ensured through QR code. These will be counted using a special software. As many as 350 LED screens are installed at all public places to display trends and results. It will also be available on the election department website, ceorajasthan.nic.in.
After the counting, one voter verifiable paper audit trail from polling centres will be selected randomly and slips will be counted to match it with the votes on the EVM. Under the supervision of returning officers, the counting of slips taken out of the VVPAT machines will be done in separate rooms and will be matched with the EVM votes.
Jaipur district election officer Siddharth Mahajan said that counting agents and personnel should be present at the respective centres by 6am on Tuesday.
Police officer/employees and voting agents cannot carry match box, edible items, tobacco products, blade, knife, needle or ink inside the counting centre premises. The officials will be provided pen along with other items at the room.
JAIPUR:
POSTAL BALLOTS FOUND IN SHOP
Eighteen postal ballots, of which 14 were blank and four with stamp on it, were recovered from a shop in Hanumangarh town on Monday.
On a tip-off, district election officer Dinesh Chandra Jain sent sub-divisional magistrate and returning officer (Hanumangarh) Surendra Singh Purohit to the spot and recovered the ballots.
Rawatsar municipality executive officer Rakesh Mehandiratta has been suspended.