BJP WINS LOCAL BODY POLLS IN RAJ IN BLOW TO CONGRESS
JAIPUR/NEW DELHI: The ruling Congress in Rajasthan suffered a setback with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) beating it in panchayat and zila parishad elections, an outcome which the winning party on Wednesday called a “farmers’ mandate” amid protests against the Centre’s new agri-marketing laws.
Of the 4,371 panchayat samitis seats, the opposition party won 1,989 seats while the Congress won 1,852 and independents bagged 422. Hanuman Beniwal’s Rashtriya Loktantric Party (RLP) won 60 seats, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) 26 and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) won five seats.
Of the 636 zila parishad seats, the BJP has won 353 seats followed by 252 seats by the ruling
party Congress, while the RLP bagged 10 and the CPI(M) two. Only one zila parishad seat result is yet to be announced in the election held across 21 of the state’s 33 districts.
Former chief minister and BJP leader Vasundhara Raje thanked the people for reposing their faith in the saffron party. “Heartiest congratulations to all the hardworking candidates and workers of the BJP who won the zila parishad and panchayati samiti elections. Heartfelt thanks to the people of the state, who have reposed their faith in the BJP by denying the false claims of the Congress government,” she said.
The BJP candidates are now in majority in 13 of these district boards and the party is set to head one more with the help of ally Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP). The Congress has won five of the remaining zila parishads.
The results come as a boost for the BJP when its government at the Centre is facing protests – mainly from farmers in Punjab and Haryana -- over the three new laws to deregulate the sale of crops.
The BJP has performed particularly well in constituencies of top Congress leaders.
In Laxmangarh, the constituency of state unit chief Govind Singh Dotasara, the Congress won only 11 out of the 25 panchayat samiti seats, while the BJP won 13. In Tonk, the home turf of former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot, BJP won nine out of the 19 panchayat seats while the Congress bagged seven.
In cabinet minister Raghu Sharma’s constituency of Ajmer, the BJP swept nine out of the 11 panchayat seats leaving just two for the Congress. The BJP also won 14 of the 17 seats in the Nimbahera panchayat samiti, where Congress minister Udai Lal Anjana hails from. In Hindoli, the constituency of sports minister Ashok Chandna, 13 out of the 23 panchayat seats were won by the BJP and 10 by the Congress.
Beniwal’s RLP has left both the BJP and the Congress behind in Nagaur by winning 20 seats. The BJP won 18 and the Congress nine. RLP is also in a kingmaker position in Barmer where it won one seat on its electoral debut. The BJP and the Congress have won an equal number of seats here.
In Dungarpur, Bharatiya Tribal Party will form the board.
In Delhi, Union minister Prakash Javadekar said the results indicate that crores of rural people are in favour of agriculture reforms.
“This is a farmers’ mandate and a vote for farm reforms,” he told reporters.
Polling for the panchayat elections was held on November 23 and 27, and December 1 and 5.
The results come just days before the Ashok Gehlot government completes two years in Rajasthan, and only months after it tackled a revolt among the Congress MLAs led by sacked deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot.
Rajasthan Congress president Dotasra said his party will perform better in the next election. “Many thanks to all the candidates for increasing the base of the party in the panchayat elections held in 21 districts of the state,” the Congress leader tweeted.