Congress's Ummeda Ram Beniwal wins in Barmer seat, BJP remains distant third

Congress party’s Umeeda Ram Beniwal won against the independent candidate Ravindra Singh Bhati and BJP's Minister of State Kailash Choudhary

Congress party’s Umeeda Ram Beniwal has won in the Barmer seat in Rajasthan by a margin of 1,18,176 votes, according to the Election Commission of India (ECI) website.

BJP leader and Union minister Kailash Choudhary (File Photo)

In the run-up to the elections, the Barmer constituency witnessed a high-voltage campaign from Congress party’s Umeeda Ram Beniwal, Union minister Kailash Choudhary, and 26-year-old independent candidate Ravindra Singh Bhati, who won the assembly polls from the Sheo constituency in 2023.

In 2019, BJP’s Kailash Choudhary secured a vote share of 59.52% and defeated Congress party’s Manvendra Singh, who managed to get 36.75% of the total votes polled.

The BJP had won the seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls as well, when its candidate Sona Ram defeated independent candidate Jaswant Singh. Ram’s vote share was 40.09%, while Singh polled 32.92%.

To maintain its dominance in the seat, BJP’s central leadership deputed many star campaigners, who campaigned on the plank of a ‘double-engine’ government, promising the implementation of state and centrally sponsored schemes.

Bhati, who was tipped by exit polls to win the seat, ran his election campaign to address issues of electricity, education, water scarcity, and improved mobile connectivity. While campaigning, he kept highlighting that Barmer is one of the major electricity providers but has been provided with an inadequate power supply.

Bhati had also tried to get a ticket from the Bharatiya Janata Party, but the party showed faith in the leadership of its incumbent MP Kailash Choudhary. The Barmer Lok Sabha seat went to polls in the second phase on April 26 and recorded a voter turnout of 85.70%.

The constituency has about 6 lakh voters from the Other Backward Community, over 4 lakh SC and ST voters combined, 4 lakh Jat voters, 2.5 lakh Muslim voters, and over 3 lakh Rajput voters.

The Congress candidate Benniwal, who comes from the Rajput community, also focused on the party’s traditional voters, the Dalits and Muslims, to set the poll arithmetic right in the constituency.