Battle for Jat crown in Rajasthan seat: Laxmangarh

In Laxmangarh, it is a battle for the crown of the Jat politics in the Shekhawati region accommodating 21 seats spread in Rajasthan's three districts - Sikar, Jhunjhunu and Churu. Laxmangarh has a high presence of Jat voters (around 92,000) who matter politically in the Shekhawati region and thus, this seat is witnessing a 'Jat vs Jat' contest.

So, neither the incumbent Congress nor the principal challenger BJP is leaving anything to chance nearly six months ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Congress party's most prominent Jat face and Pradesh Congress Committee chief Govind Singh Dotasara, who is seeking fourth consecutive term from this seat, is facing a tough challenge from BJP's Subhash Maharia, a former Union minister and three-time MP from Sikar (1998-2009).

Maharia, who faced defeat as Congress candidate from the Sikar seat in 2019 LS polls, returned to his old party in May this year.
Dotasara, who enjoys significant political influence over Jat voters in the Shekhawati region due to his own clout in the Congress, has so far not given any scope to BJP to make a dent into his Jat vote bank in Laxmangarh since 2008. This constituency was named as a general seat after delimitation in 2008. So, Dotasara's main challenge is to stop BJP from splitting the Jat vote bank in Laxmangarh.

After a gap of nearly five years, BJP's decision to have Maharia back into the party fold has much to do with its (the party's) attempts to build bridges with the community in the region. And who better than Maharia who is credited for connecting Jat voters with BJP in the late 1990s.

In Rajasthan, Shekhawati region has so far proved to be a tough political ground for BJP in the state politics, despite winning all the Lok Sabha seats - Sikar, Jhunjhunu and Churu - in 2019.

"Maharia's victory in Laxmangarh may open the door for BJP in Shekhawati region," Sunil Jangir told ET in Sankhu village, located along the Laxmangarh-Jhunjhun highway.

In 2018 assembly polls, Maharia was with Congress and thus BJP could not find a way to woo Jat voters.

While Dotasara is banking on the development works he has done in his constituency, BJP has taken several corrective measures to learn from its past mistakes.