Rajasthan bypoll: BJP wins 5 seats; Congress, Bharat Adivasi Party win one each

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday emerged victorious in Rajasthan assembly by polls winning five seats out of seven while the Congress and Bharat Adivasi Party managed one seat each.
The results came as a shock to Congress as it held four of the seven seats in the 2023 assembly election but lost three seats in the bypolls.
Congress candidates came third in four of seven seats and the party candidates lost their deposits on the Chorasi and Khinvsar seats.
Rashtriya Loktantrik Party founder president and Nagaur MP Hanuman Beniwal lost the Khinvsar seat and with this defeat, the party has no representation in the state assembly.
Cabinet minister Kirori Lal Meena’s brother Jagmohan Meena lost the Dausa seat on a BJP ticket. Meena who was once a strong leader of the Meena community has seen his influence waning, and the results suggests the same.
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The BJP won Ramgarh, Jhunjhunu, Khinvsar, Deoli Uniara and Salumber seats while the Congress won Dausa and Bharat Adivasi party won Chorasi seat.
This was Congress’s worst performance in assembly bypolls in the past ten years. The party had performed better than the BJP in bypolls in the last ten years but this time, it was the BJP which had the upper hand.
Triangular fights in Jhunjhunu, Khinsar, Deoli Uniara and Salumber worked in favour of the BJP.
Meanwhile, political commentator Narayan Bareth criticised the party’s campaign.
“The Congress did not do proper groundwork. They took the election lightly. The factionalism between former CM Ashok Gehlot and former deputy CM Sachin Pilot was evident and the party did not work in a united manner”, he said.
Analysts attributed BJP’s victory to good candidate selection and unity in the party.
“The BJP did not take the election lightly. Their candidate selection was good. The party was united. There was no interference from the party high command. Former CM Vasundhara Raje too was inactive. But the party posted its best result in a decade,” Political analyst Manish Godha said.
Reacting to the results, a BJP leader on condition of anonymity said, “The CM and Rathore should get credit for the victory. The party fought the election in a strategic manner. The candidate selection was pertinent keeping in mind the caste equations. The CM and Rathore did well to manage the rebels who could have hurt the party’s electoral prospects. The leaders made a strategy for each seat and did not take the election lightly,” he said.
Analyst Prakash Bhandari was also of the view that the victory was a morale booster for CM Bhajanlal Sharma.
“It was a big test for him. His government was seen as weak. The opposition taunted the government as a ‘parchi sarkar’ that was being run from Delhi. He had his detractors within the party too. But the victory will now silence his detractors and boost his confidence.”
The strength of the political parties in the state assembly now stands as follows, BJP 119, Congress 66, Bharat Adivasi Party 4, BSP 2, RLD 1, RLP 0 and Independents 8.
On the Ramgarh seat, Sukhwant Singh of BJP defeated Aryan Khan of the Congress by a margin of 13,636 votes. Khan is the son of late Congress leader Zubair Khan.
Khinvsar saw a major upset with BJP wresting the seat from Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP).
Khinvsar seat has been a bastion of RLP president Hanuman Beniwal. He has been contesting and winning the seat since 2008. This time Beniwal had fielded his wife Kanika Beniwal, who lost to BJP’s Revant Daga by a margin of 13,901 votes.
In Jhunjhuna, Rajendra Bhamboo of the BJP notched up a comprehensive win over Amit Ola, son of Congress leader Brijendra Ola and grandson of Congress stalwart Sis Ram Ola. The seat was considered a pocket borough of the Ola family for the past five decades, but Bhamboo won by a margin of 42,848 votes.
On the Deoli Uniara seat, Rajendra Gurjar of the BJP trumped KC Meena of the Congress by a narrow margin of 4,121 votes.
In Salumber, the BJP candidate Shanta Meena registered a narrow victory winning by 1,285 votes.
The Congress was able to register a win on the Dausa seat, where the party candidate DD Bairwa defeated BJP’s Jagmohan Meena, brother of cabinet minister Kirori Lal Meena, by 2,300 votes.
The Bharat Adivasi Party retained its hold on the Chorasi seat, with party candidate Anil Kumar Katara defeating Karilal Ninoma of the BJP by 24,370 votes. Congress candidate Mahesh Roat lost his deposit on the seat.
Political commentator Narayan Bareth said despite BJP winning the Salumber seat, the BAP has emerged as a force in the Vagad region.
“The tribal community was seen as a strong vote bank, but the party has lost its hold. The BJP too has been trying to establish its foot hold here and has succeeded to an extent. However, both the BJP and Congress have to rethink their politics in the tribal region. The issues have changed, and people are drifting away from the two parties. The BAP graph is rising.”