As Rajasthan goes to polls for 20 lok Sabha seats in the first phase on Thursday, here’s a lowdown on some constituencies which may not be witnessing high-profile leaders fighting it out, yet, though the contests are as interesting as it gets:
Jhunjhunu: Veteran Jat leader Sis Ram Ola’s daughter-in-law Rajbala Ola is the Congress candidate having made her way through the party’s primaries after pipping other members of her family to the post. She is pitted against BJP MlA from Surajgarh Santosh Ahlawat and banking on her late father-in-law’s legacy besides the sympathy factor. But the entry of Rajkumar Sharma, a former Minister in the Ashok Gehlot Government, in the fray as an Independent and AAP’s lt Gen (retd) RS Kadyan has made the contest challenging for her. Resentment against parties preferring Jat candidates to Rajputs pervades here too. Caste equations including Jats, Rajputs, Brahmins, SCs and Muslims will play a key role.
Jalore: This seat was converted from a reserved SC seat into a general constituency post-delimitation in 2008. Former Governor and Union Home Minister Buta Singh is yet again in the fray after turning a rebel and quitting the Congress. In 2009 too, he had enacted the same act. He had contested but lost. The undeterred 80-year-old saw the Samajwadi Party making him its candidate. But is one of the tallest leaders who made Rajasthan their political turf despite being natives of other States. He is banking on the support of SCs and STs, who constitute a major chunk of the population. Buta is challenging the might of sitting BJP MP Devji Patel. A known baiter of former CM Ashok Gehlot Udailal Anjana is the Congress candidate. The Congress clipped Gehlot’s wings after the loss under him by preferring to overlook the candidature of his son Vaibhav for the seat.
Sikar: An influential former BJP MP Subhash Maharia turning a rebel and contesting as an Independent is giving sleepless nights to the BJP, which gave in to the demand of Baba Ramdev to field Arya Samaj leader Swami Sumedhanand. This evoked a strong opposition from the local unit. Sumedhanand is considered an outsider as he hails from Haryana. Such has been the anger in the local unit that his convoy too was attacked. But the BJP leadership did not budge on the sadhu’s candidature. The Congress is not on a better footing either. It brought in a retired technocrat, Pratap Singh Jat, in place of its sitting MP Mahadeo Singh Khandela. Caste equations will be crucial on this seat too.
Pali: The Congress move in this Jat-dominated constituency surprised everyone. It opted to field Munni Devi Godara, an undergraduate and daughter of sitting MP Badri Ram Jakhar. This, despite the fact that Jakhar had trounced his BJP rival by nearly 2 lakh votes in 2009. The Congress thinks the Jats will ensure the victory of any candidate from their community. This became a Jat-dominated seat post-2008 delimitation else the Jains (business community) called the shots here earlier. The BJP has chosen to field a newcomer PP Choudhary, a lawyer, from the Seervi community. Former Congress MlA Mahipal Maderna’s influence is on the wane. Besides the Jains and Brahmins, SCs, STs and OBCs have a decisive role here.
