E-Paper
Woman vs woman in the "city of lakes"
The lake city of Udaipur witnesses the key battle of ballot between two women candidates of rivals Congress and BJP in the polls.
The lake city of Udaipur witnesses the key battle of ballot between two women candidates of rivals Congress and BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
State Chief of BJP's Mahila Morcha, Kiran Maheshwari takes on senior Congress leader Girija Vyas who makes a bid to retain the Lok Sabha seat.
Udaipur is the only Lok Sabha constituency in Rajasthan where the two major political parties have fielded women candidates.
Vyas, who was replaced as Pradesh Congress Committee Chief by Narayan Singh after the party's debacle in the Assembly polls, won the last 1999 election defeating BJP's Shanti Lal Chaplot by a margin of over 54,000 votes.
Vyas, former Union Minister in the Congress Government headed by Narasimha Rao, had won her maiden Lok Sabha polls in 1991. She retained the seat in 1996 but lost to Chaplot in 1998.
Vyas is facing a formidable challenge from Maheshwari who was recently appointed to the party post.
The seat has been a traditional stronghold of Congress, though BJP won it in 1989 and 1996 and a 'Jan Sangh' man, Bhanu Kumar Shashtri, captured it in 1977 as a Janata Party nominee.
