Rajasthan bypolls: campaigning for Alwar, Ajmer, Mandalgarh seat ends

Bypolls  to  Lok Sabha seats  in  Alwar and Ajmer and the Assembly seat of Mandalgarh will be held on Monday.  

The campaign trail for all three seats concluded on Saturday with both parties giving their best shots.

In Ajmer, the BJP's candidate is Ramswarup Lamba, a Jat and son of deceased MP Sanwar Lal Jat. The Congress has fielded Raghu Sharma, a Brahmin.

To woo the Gujjar community in Ajmer, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje's daughter-in-law Niharka, who belongs to the community was seen campaigning actively.

Similarly, Congress chief Sachin Pilot, who also hails from the Gujjar community, was seen actively on the ground.  

In Alwar, there is a direct fight between BJP candidate Jaswant Singh Yadav (64) and Congress candidate Karan Singh Yadav (72).

Surprisingly, both the parties chose to field Yadav candidates as the community has maximum voters and is said to be among the most politically active ones.

The bypolls  were necessitated after the  death of two BJP parliamentarians, Sanwar Lal Jat and Mahant Chandnath (from Alwar seat) last year.

The Assembly seat  in Mandalgarh fell vacant after MLA Kirti Kumari died after suffering from swine flu in 2017

This will be for the first time in any Lok Sabha elections that EVMs in bypolls will have the photographs of candidates contesting elections.

It was recently used in the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh Assembly polls.  

'Padmavat'  a defying issue:

The dynamics are slightly varying this time, following which Rajput organisations are extending support to the Congress.

The Rajputs, who have been known for being hardcore BJP supporters in Rajasthan, have withdrawn their support from the saffron party, owing to the release of the movie 'Padmaavat' across India.  

The Rajput community is upset with Centre's leadership for allowing Padmavaat's release nationwide.

"We agree that the saffron party in Rajasthan has condemned the film and supported the ban but we were expecting  Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ban the film. We also wrote to him and I & B minister Smriti Irani but our woes remained unheard," a member of the Rajput Sabha told DH.

The BJP, which had held all the three seats, is also fighting with the deceived Gujjars community after they failed to meet  the latter's demand for 5% reservation.