Jaipur, Sept. 14 -- The BJP emerged as the largest party in Rajasthan's urban local body elections on Monday, winning 4,179 wards compared with the Congress's 3,613, while securing clear majorities in four of the state's 10 municipal corporations. The results also produced surprises in several politically significant areas, with Independents winning 2,273 wards and taking control of Bharatpur Municipal Corporation, the hometown of Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma. The Congress, meanwhile, secured a majority in Bikaner and registered a major win in Jhalawar, a traditional stronghold of former chief minister Vasundhara Raje.
According to figures on the State Election Commission website, results for 10,235 of the 10,244 wards where counting was under way had been declared by 8.30 pm. Besides the BJP and Congress, the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party won 63 wards, Aam Aadmi Party 42, CPI(M) 38, BSP 19 and Bharat Adivasi Party eight.
The BJP crossed the majority mark in the municipal corporations of Jaipur, Udaipur, Kota and Bhilwara, while the Congress secured a majority in Bikaner.
In Jaipur's 150-member municipal corporation, the BJP won 78 wards, giving it a majority, while the Congress secured 53 and Independents 15. Four results were still pending. In Udaipur, the BJP won 53 of 80 wards, compared with 23 for Congress, three for Independents and one for CPI(M).
The BJP also won decisively in Bhilwara, taking 45 of 70 wards against Congress's 10, while Independents won 15. In Kota, the BJP secured 55 of the 100 wards.
Bikaner produced a reverse result, with Congress winning 42 of the 80 wards and the BJP 27. Independents won 10 and the RLP one, giving Congress a clear majority. Bharatpur delivered perhaps the biggest upset. Independents won 36 of the 65 wards, while the BJP managed 20 and Congress seven. BSP and RLP secured one ward each. The result carries political significance because Bharatpur is the home district of Chief Minister Sharma.
Speaking at the BJP state headquarters, Sharma described the party's performance as a "historic victory" and linked it to public support for the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's central leadership.
"The BJP's public outreach model, its approach of listening to common people and resolving their grievances has been accepted by the people," Sharma said.
Jodhpur, another major corporation, remained inconclusive. BJP and Congress won 44 wards each in the 100-member body, while Independents secured 10 and RLP one. One result was yet to be declared.
Congress emerged as the largest party in Ajmer without reaching a majority, winning 37 of 80 wards against BJP's 32 and Independents' 11. In Pali, the hometown of BJP state president Madan Rathore, Congress won 29 of 65 wards. BJP secured 21 and Independents 15.
In Alwar, BJP was the largest party with 28 of 65 wards, followed by Congress with 23, Independents with 13 and BSP with one.
The Congress's performance in Jhalawar was particularly notable. It won 29 of 45 wards in the municipal council, while BJP won 13, Independents two and AAP one. However, BJP retained its hold over nearby Jhalrapatan municipality, winning 22 of 35 wards. Congress won eight and AAP five. Raje, a two-time chief minister, is the sitting BJP MLA from Jhalrapatan.
Congress state president Govind Singh Dotasra disputed the BJP's assessment of the results. He said the party's lead over Congress had narrowed compared with earlier urban elections and alleged that the delimitation of wards had been "unfair". Earlier in the day, while counting was still under way, Dotasra had accused the BJP of using government machinery and police to influence the outcome.
Dotasra said the BJP had enjoyed an 8.12 percentage-point vote-share advantage over Congress in the 2014-16 urban polls held during the Vasundhara Raje government, while Congress had led BJP by 2.2 percentage points in the 2019-21 polls under the Ashok Gehlot government. "In this election, the BJP's lead over the Congress is less than one per cent," he said. He also claimed Congress could have won about 1,500 additional wards but for irregularities in delimitation.
The elections covered 309 urban local bodies, including 10 municipal corporations, 51 municipal councils and 248 municipalities. More than 1.44 crore voters were eligible to vote in the two-phase polling held on September 9 and 11.
The scale of the exercise was considerably larger than the previous municipal election cycle, held between November 2019 and February 2021, when Rajasthan had 196 urban local bodies with 7,500 wards. At that time, Congress controlled 123 bodies, BJP 64, while Independents and other parties headed nine.
The next stage of the process will begin on September 21, when mayors and chairpersons of the newly elected urban bodies will be chosen. Deputy mayors, deputy chairpersons and municipal vice-presidents will be elected on September 22.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.