JAIPUR: The fall in BJP's vote share in the bypoll for two
Lok Sabha and one assembly seats in Rajasthan, where it received a drubbing by Congress, ranged between 21% and 12%, signalling that chief minister
Vasundhara Raje could face an uphill task in the assembly polls slated towards the year-end.
The biggest fall in vote share was in
Alwar Lok Sabha constituency, where the ruling party's vote share dropped from 61% in 2014 to 40%. In the Modi wave of 2014, BJP's Mahant Chand Nath had defeated Congress president
Rahul Gandhi's close aide Jitendra Singh by more than 2.8 lakh votes.
In Ajmer parliamentary seat, BJP's vote share dropped from 56% to 44%. In the Mandalgarh assembly seat, BJP's vote share nosedived from 52% in 2013 to 32% now.
Anger in Meo community due to Pehlu Khan's lynching was one of the factors for Congress's surge in vote share in the Alwar seat. Sources said in the Ajmer seat, BJP and RSS cadres were angry that Ramswaroop Lamba, a greenhorn from the Jat community, was fielded by the party. Congress responded by adopting a 'Jat versus others' strategy, and gained in the process. The ire of Rajputs and
Ravna Rajputs and Brahmins, who felt their leaders were being sidelined in state BJP, dealt a body blow to the ruling party in Ajmer.
