Raj civic poll results: BJP to appoint Mayors in Jaipur, Udaipur, Bhilwara and Kota; Congress wins Bikaner

Jaipur: The results of elections to 10 municipal corporations in Rajasthan were declared on Monday.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured a majority in Jaipur, Udaipur, Bhilwara and Kota, while Congress secured a clear majority in Bikaner.

Independent candidates are set to play a crucial role in board formation in Pali, Ajmer, Bharatpur and Jodhpur.

Congress emerged as the largest party in Pali and Ajmer, while the BJP was the single-largest party in Alwar.

Jodhpur witnessed a close contest between Congress and the BJP, while Independents emerged as the largest group in Bharatpur.

Results for four wards in Jaipur and one ward in Jodhpur have been withheld due to re-polling.

The results for these wards will be declared after the re-poll.

Congress candidate Gazanfar Ali registered Rajasthan’s biggest victory in Jaipur, winning Ward number 113 by a margin of 10,014 votes.

In the high-profile Ward number 112, BJP candidate and former Jaipur Mayor Jyoti Khandelwal lost the election.

Former state BJP spokesperson Vimal Katiyar also lost from Ward number 35 by 1,461 votes. Congress city district president Omkar Verma lost from Ward number 42 by 279 votes.

In Ward number 51, 21-year-old Congress candidate Saraswati Prajapat won the election.

Meanwhile, national-level football player and BJP candidate Vikas Raghwani won from Ward number 28.

In Ward number 99, BJP candidate Nikita defeated former Congress Mayor Kunti Deora.

Hitanshi Sharma, the daughter-in-law of the brother of former Union Minister Girija Vyas, won from Ward number 73.

Poonam Kunwar, the wife of Udaipur city Congress president Fateh Singh Rathore, won from Ward number 17.

Atul Chandaliya and Akash Vagrecha, brothers of the sons-in-law of Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria, won from Ward numbers 78 and 5, respectively.

Results for 99 of the 100 wards in the Jodhpur Municipal Corporation have been declared.

Congress and the BJP have won 44 seats each. Independents secured 10 seats, while one seat went to a candidate from the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP).

The result for one ward has been withheld and will be declared after a re-poll at one of the booths.

With Congress and the BJP tied at 44 seats each, Independent Councillors are likely to play a decisive role in the race for the Mayor’s post.

Following the Rajasthan civic body results, Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma and State BJP President Madan Rathore celebrated with party workers at the state BJP office.

Supporters of Independent candidate Vikram Singh, who won from Ward number 29 in Jaipur, also celebrated his victory.

BJP candidate Sunil Kothari’s supporters celebrated his victory from Ward number 112 of the Jaipur Municipal Corporation.

Former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot accused the BJP government of using police pressure to influence Congress and Independent Councillors following the civic body poll results.

Gehlot on social media platform X said that the BJP, “rattled by its defeat in the urban body elections”, was allegedly attempting to influence Independent and Congress Councillors in Jodhpur and Alwar to secure Mayoral posts.

He also alleged that the BJP was misusing the police to achieve this.

State BJP President Madan Rathore described the election results as public approval of the state government’s development work.

He said the BJP had received “two-and-a-half to three times more support than last time” and claimed that the party had achieved 90 per cent success in the municipal corporations.

Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma also termed the civic poll results an endorsement of the state government’s work over the past two-and-a-half years under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership.

He dedicated the victory to the people and BJP workers.

Re-polling will be held at five polling booths in the Jaipur Municipal Corporation area following technical malfunctions in EVMs.

The booths are Number 111 in Ward number 9, Number 235 in Ward number 18, Number 343 in Ward number 25, and Booth numbers 477 and 484 in Ward number 34.

The votes from these booths could not be counted due to the technical problems.

The re-poll will determine the final results in the affected wards.

Results for Rajasthan’s 47 municipal councils and 252 municipalities were also declared on Monday.

The results will determine the political balance in the state’s urban local bodies, followed by contests for the posts of Chairpersons and Presidents.

Key results from Bikaner, Kota, Udaipur, Alwar, Ajmer, Bharatpur, Pali and Bhilwara have emerged as important indicators of the political strength of the BJP, Congress and Independent candidates across Rajasthan.

IANS