Rajasthan Municipal Corporation elections: Two wins each for Congress, BJP, others

Supporters of Congress candidate Krishna Sharma celebrate after she won from Jaipur Heritage (ward 16) in the Municipal Corporation Elections, on Tuesday. (Express Photo: Rohit Jain Paras)

The Congress and BJP won a clear majority in two municipal corporations each while the others held the trump card in two other corporations, as per the results declared Tuesday.

Congress won a clear majority in Jodhpur North and Kota North while BJP won in Jaipur Greater and Jodhpur South. As for Jaipur Heritage and Kota South, which of the two parties will form a Board depends on non-BJP non-Congress candidates. However, Congress has more seats in the former and is neck and neck with BJP in the latter.
Despite the best of efforts by Tourism Minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas, Congress Chief Whip Mahesh Joshi, MLA Amin Kagzi, etc. the Congress could only win 47 wards against BJP’s 42 — while others won 11 — in Jaipur Heritage. Since it has 100 wards, Congress just needs four more councillors to reach the majority mark.

In Jaipur Greater, BJP won a clear majority of 88 against Congress’ 49; others won the remaining 13 wards. Jaipur Greater has a total of 150 seats and so 75 seats were required for a majority.

In Jodhpur, both Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat managed to save face. Congress won in North due to favourable caste equations while Shekhawat’s hard work paid off in South. In Jodhpur North, which has 80 seats, Congress won a clear majority of 53 seats while BJP won 19, and 8 seats were won by others. In Jodhpur South, which also has 80 seats, BJP crossed the majority mark with 43 seats while Congress had to contend with 29.

In Kota North, Urban Development and Housing minister Shanti Dhariwal proved his mettle once again with the party winning 47 out of total 70 seats, while BJP won just 14 seats. In Kota South, where local MP and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla is said to have sway, Congress and BJP have won 36 seats each, while others have won 8. To reach a majority mark, a party will need five more councillors, since there are a total of 80 wards.

Overall, of the total 560 wards, Congress has won 261 against BJP’s 242, while 57 were won by others.
CM Gehlot, who had claimed that Congress will form Boards in all six corporations, said that the results are ‘pleasing’. “Of the total votes, Congress has received 40.09 per cent votes, which is about 2.5 per cent more than BJP,” he said.

Congress state president Govind Singh Dotasra said that the party will form a Board in four out of six municipal corporations. “It is not an exaggeration to say that we have stood up to the expectations of the mandate given to us (in 2018). Congress party’s graph is constantly rising. The public has put a stamp of approval on the Congress government, on the developmental works undertaken in the last two years.”

Summing up the results, BJP state president Satish Poonia said, “The results don’t give a reason to Congress to be happy, nor do they give BJP a reason to despair.”

He said that “traditionally in Rajasthan, public gives majority in municipal and panchayat elections to whichever party is ruling the state. But here, the opposite has happened. Congress was claiming that it’ll win in all six corporations, but won only in two.”

BJP MLA and party spokesperson Ram Lal Shama said, “Congress adopted all hathkande (measures) that it could: it had to misuse the administration, and it did that. Still, the public did not give them the mandate they were expecting. It is true that of the six municipal corporations, Congress has won clear majority in two corporations.”
He said that “In Jaipur heritage, the public has not given them clear majority. Overall, Jaipur’s public has turned down Congress. And, the public has supported BJP on the issues on which we had gone to polls. Jaipur has become the crime capital and the public has accepted that crimes are indeed increasing in Jaipur.”

Of the total 35.97 lakh voters, 21.66 lakh had exercised their right in two phases. Mayoral elections will be held on November 10 while Deputy Mayors will be chosen/elected on November 11.

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