BJP hard work pays off In Rajasthan rural polls

BJP has won more seats than Congress in rural body elections in Rajasthan, repeating its 2010 performance when it was in Opposition. Out of 636 zila parishad seats, BJP won 353, Congress 252, while 31 went to other parties. BJP secured a majority in 13 out of 21 zila parishads and is tied with the Congress in one. In panchayat samiti elections, BJP won 1,990 out of 4,371 seats, while Congress won 1,856 seats and ‘others’ 525 seats.

The dominance of the BJP in rural belt will boost party morale in 3 assembly bypolls early next year, after the failed attempt to bring down the Gehlot government a few months ago. Congress had won Sahada and Sujangarh in 2018 and BJP Rajsamand. “We won panchayat elections in two assembly seats held by Congress. This is just an indication that we are going to win all three assembly seats,” BJP state president Satish Poonia told ET. For the record, BJP had won all 25 Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan, less than six months after the 2018 assembly polls which saw Congress return to power.

The BJP state unit worked hard, Poonia said. He said he formed around 40,000 WhatsApp groups from booth, shakti kendra, mandal and district level to constantly and quickly disseminate information. “We made sure that people in villages were aware of the benefits given by the Modi government, especially Ujjwala and PM Kisan. There was a lot of anger among farmers and youth because this government didn’t fulfil the promises it had made,” he claimed. There are around 2.5 lakh contractual employees in the state waiting for permanent employment. Secondly, farmers want electricity bills for the lockdown period waived, but the state has only deferred payment.

BJP fielded leaders from Yuva Morcha in the elections and mandal presidents were those around 30 years. The youth card worked well for the party. BJP also recorded wins in Congress stronghold of Jhunjhunu, which BJP had never won in the past. In terms of regions, BJP did well in Shekhawati, Marwar and tribal belt, once a Congress bastion. The biggest worry for Congress is that in tribal areas it came third behind BJP and Bharatiya Tribal Party of Chhotubhai Vasava. “The internal rivalry among Congress also helped us and it is not going to resolve anytime soon,” Poonia said.