Representative image of a person casting vote.
Credit: PTI File Photo
Jaipur: Relatively tough contest is expected on at least six out of 25 Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan where polling will be held in two phases this month.
Congress has fielded 22 candidates and left two seats of Nagaur and Sikar under alliance with the RLP and CPI (M) respectively, while the decision on the Banswara seat is pending. Whereas the BJP has given tickets to candidates on all 25 seats.
Churu, Kota-Bundi, Sikar, Nagaur, Banswara and Barmer are such seats where relatively tough contests are expected. In Barmer, the fight has become interesting with Independent MLA Ravinddra Singh Bhati joining the battle for Lok Sabha.
While the Congress has given tickets to turncoats in Churu (Rahul Kaswan), Kota-Bundi (Prahlad Gunjal) and Barmer (Ummedaram), the BJP has fielded one turncoat in Banswara (Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya).
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday reviewed the election preparations and took feedback from five constituencies, including Nagaur and Churu. He also held a roadshow in Sikar. The roadshow marked the beginning of the party's election campaign from the Shekhawati region, comprising Sikar, Jhunjhunu, Churu and Nagaur.
On Monday, he is holding meetings of party leaders from Jodhpur, Pali, Jalore-Sirohi and Barmer constituencies in Jodhpur.
The BJP independently won all the 25 Lok Sabha seats in 2014 and in 2019 elections, the BJP won 24 and its ally RLP won one seat. This time, the BJP has not gone for any alliance while Hanuman Beniwal's RLP, which was a part of the NDA in 2019, has now joined hands with the Congress on the same seat of Nagaur.
The Congress has not been able to win a single seat in the last two Lok Sabha elections even when it was in power in the state in 2019.
Taking advantage of internal feud between former leader of opposition Rajendra Rathore and Churu MP Rahul Kaswan, the Congress got Kaswan to join the party following which he resigned as MP.
Shortly after he joined the party, the Congress made Kaswan, a two-time MP, its candidate from Churu where the BJP has fielded a new face - paralympic Devendra Jhajharia.
Churu, situated in northern Rajasthan, is a Jat-dominated constituency and candidates of both the parties are from the same community.
The Congress has its MLAs in five out of eight assembly constituencies under the Churu Lok Sabha seat. The BJP has two seats and the BSP one. Despite being in a strong position, the Congress banked on the BJP turncoat instead of fielding its own leader.
Kaswan has the experience of winning two Lok Sabha elections with the Modi wave being an important factor. However, Kaswan will not have this advantage this time.
The Congress has also brought an influential leader of the BJP in the Hadoti region to its fold to take on BJP's Om Birla on the Kota-Bundi parliamentary seat.
Former MLA Prahlad Gunjal joined the Congress and was made the party candidate from the seat. Gunjal, considered close to former CM Vasundhara Raje, is expected to give a tough fight to Om Birla, who is a two-time MP and Lok Sabha Speaker.
In Sikar, former CPI (M) MLA Amraram is contesting under alliance with the Congress against BJP's two-time MP Swami Sumedhanand. PCC president Govind Singh Dotasra's assembly constituency Laxmangarh is under the Sikar Lok Sabha seat, yet the party went for the alliance. The CPI (M)-Congress alliance is expected to give a challenge to BJP.
Jat-dominated Nagaur seat is also witnessing a tough and interesting fight between former Congress MP Jyoti Mirdha, who is the BJP candidate against Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) convener Hanuman Beniwal. Beniwal is contesting the Lok Sabha election in an alliance with the Congress.
Both Jyoti Mirdha and Beniwal are old rivals. Beniwal, an influential Jat leader, had won this seat in 2019 under alliance with the BJP by defeating Jyoti Mirdha, who was the Congress candidate.
Jyoti Mirdha joined the BJP ahead of the 2023 assembly elections and contested election on the Nagaur seat but lost to her uncle and Congress candidate Harendra Mirdha.
The Barmer seat in western Rajasthan is also set to witness an interesting fight where the Congress gave ticket to Ummedaram, who left Beniwal's RLP and joined the Congress. He will face BJP candidate and Union Minister of State Kailash Chaudhary.
Independent MLA Ravindra Bhati, a first-time MLA and youth leader, has made the contest interesting by declaring to contest elections.
Bhati, a BJP rebel popular among the locals, had contested the 2023 assembly elections from the seat of Barmer as an independent candidate and won the seat.
Bhati has been vocal about students' rights, which made him popular among the voters. He has been a crowd-puller and his rallies saw good participation of people before the assembly elections.
In tribal-dominated southern Rajasthan, the BJP has fielded former Congress minister and influential tribal leader Mahendrajeet Singh Malvia on the Banswara Lok Sabha seat.
The Congress is looking for alliance with a new party Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) to counter Malvia and has not yet declared its candidate.
BAP MLA Rajkumar Roat, who was earlier declared as BAP candidate, filed nomination papers as an independent candidate on Saturday.
There are high chances that the seat would be contested under alliance of the Congress and BAP.
BAP has three MLAs in the state.
The Lok Sabha elections in Rajasthan will be held in two phases, on April 19 and 26.
In the first phase, voting will be held in 12 Lok Sabha constituencies - Ganganagar, Bikaner, Churu, Jhunjhunu, Sikar, Jaipur Rural, Jaipur, Alwar, Bharatpur, Karauli-Dholpur, Dausa and Nagaur on April 19.
Remaining 13 seats of Tonk-Sawai Madhopur, Ajmer, Pali, Jodhpur, Barmer, Jalore, Udaipur, Banswara, Chittorgarh, Rajsamand, Bhilwara, Kota and Jhalawar-Baran will go to polls in the second phase on April 26.