Congress hopes to buck trend, BJP seeks to reclaim fortress: Stage set for battle royale in Rajasthan | India News

NEW DELHI: After weeks of high-voltage campaigning, it’s now over to the voters in Rajasthan as the state gets ready for the single-phase elections on Saturday.
The fate of as many as 1,862 candidates will be sealed by over 5.25 crore eligible voters in the state, of which nearly 33% are under the age of 30.
Polling will be held in 199 out of the 200 constituencies from 7am to 6pm amid tight security arrangements.Due to the death ofCongress candidate and sitting MLA in Karanpur Gurmeet Singh Koonar, voting in the constituency has been adjourned.
The Rajasthan elections on November 25 will be followed by polling in Telangana on November 30, which will wrap up the final assembly polls of 2023. The results for Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram will be declared on December 3.
Classic BJP vs Congress battle
With both Congress and BJP dominating the electoral landscape of the state, the run up to the elections witnessed a classic clash between the traditional rivals.
In 2018, the Congress returned to power in the state by ousting the ruling BJP. The grand old party secured 100 out of the 200 seats in the state and formed the government under Ashok Gehlot with the help of allies. The BJP’s seat share was reduced to 73.

The 2023 elections will be a litmus test for the Gehlot government, which has suffered internal rifts after a short-lived rebellion by former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot. For now, the two leaders seem to have reconciled in a truce brokered by the Congress leadership.
The BJP, too, faced similar internal squabbles, with the party opting to not declare its CM candidate ahead of polling despite clamour for former CM Vasundhara Raje.
The Congress under Gehlot is hoping to buck the trend of the state voting out the ruling party every five years. The BJP, however, is confident of reclaiming its fortress with its Modi-centric campaign and Hindutva plank.
A victory for either party in the state will help set the tone for the crucial Lok Sabha elections next year. The state sends as many as 25 MPs to the lower house. In 2019, the BJP-led NDA had won all 25 seats.
Apart from the BJP and Congress, other parties including CPM, RLP, Bharat Adiwasi Party, Bhartiya Tribal Party, Aam Aadmi Party, AIMIM are also contesting the elections.
High decibel campaigning
The past few days saw a high-pitched electoral campaign dominated by the ruling Congress and the opposition BJP.
The Congress’s campaign focused mainly on the works and performance of the Gehlot government, its schemes and programmes. It also banked on the promise of seven guarantees if the party retains power.
Meanwhile, the BJP attacked the Congress on issues such as crime against women, appeasement, corruption and the paper leak case.
The grand old party’s campaign was spearheaded by party president Mallikarjun Kharge, leaders Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and Gehlot.

Meanwhile, PM Modi led the election campaign for the BJP and held multiple meetings. He also held road shows in Bikaner and Jaipur.
BJP president JP Nadda, Union ministers Amit Shah, Smriti Irani and Rajnath Singh, and chief ministers Yogi Adityanath (Uttar Pradesh), Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh) and Himanta Biswa Sarma (Assam) among others also addressed public meetings in various constituencies across the state.
During the campaign trail, Rahul Gandhi stoked controversy for his “panauti” and “pickpocket” remarks against PM Modi. The Election Commission served a show-cause notice to the Lok Sabha member for his statements.
The campaigning also saw PM Modi getting emotional after recognizing a 95-year-old BJP leader Dharam Chand Derasariya, who was sitting in the general audience section at an election rally in Deogarh.
In the fray
The BJP is contesting on all seats while Congress has left one seat – Bharatpur – for its ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) like the 2018 elections.
Chief minister Ashok Gehlot, state Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra, assembly speaker CP Joshi, several ministers including Shanti Dhariwal, BD Kalla, Bhanwar Singh Bhati, Saleh Mohammad, Mamta Bhupesh, Pratap Singh Khachariyawas, Rajendra Yadav, Shakuntla Rawat, Udai Lal Anjana, Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya, Ashok Chandna and former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot are among the Congress leaders contesting the elections.
In BJP, leader of opposition Rajendra Rathore, deputy leader of opposition and former state president Satish Poonia, former chief minister Vasundhara Raje, MPs Diya Kumari, Rajyavardhan Rathore, Baba Balaknath and Kirodi Lal Meena are in the fray.
Gurjar leader late Kirodi Singh Bainsla’s son Vijay Bainsla is also contesting as BJP candidate.
Former chief secretary Niranjan Arya is trying his luck in politics as a Congress candidate.
The BJP has given tickets to 59 MLAs, including defected Congress MLA Girraj Singh Malinga and six Lok Sabha and one Rajya Sabha member while the Congress has fielded 97 MLAs including seven independents and one from BJP – Shobharani Kushwah who was expelled from the saffron party last year.
One of the major faces who joined the BJP from the Congress is former MP from Nagaur Jyoti Mirdha, who is contesting the assembly election.
Nagaur MP and Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) convener Hanuman Beniwal is also contesting the assembly elections. RLP is contesting the election in alliance with Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshiram) led by Chandrashekhar Azad.
Numbers at a glance

(With inputs from agencies)