Lok Sabha elections 2019: All eyes on sons in the fray in Rajasthan on April 29 - Hindustan Times
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Lok Sabha elections 2019: All eyes on sons in the fray in Rajasthan on April 29

Hindustan Times, Jaipur | By
Apr 28, 2019 09:35 PM IST

In the last general election, the Bharatiya Janata Party won all the 25 Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan and in the 2018 November-December assembly poll the Congress bagged 100 out of the 200 state seats and BJP 73.

The Congress and BJP are going to face each other again Rajasthan in the Lok Sabha election after the grand old party came back to power following a tight contest in last year’s assembly polls in one of the key states in the Hindi heartland.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi with Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot at an election rally in the state.(PTI file photo)
Congress President Rahul Gandhi with Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot at an election rally in the state.(PTI file photo)

In the last general election, the Bharatiya Janata Party won all the 25 Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan and in the 2018 November-December assembly poll the Congress bagged 100 out of the 200 state seats and BJP 73.

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The ruling party in the state is looking to ride on the assembly poll win to better its tally in the national election this time. And, the BJP hopes to buck the trend that the party which wins the assembly election gets a majority of the Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan.

Also read: BJP, Congress try to strike caste balance in Rajasthan

The BJP is contesting the Lok Sabha election 2019 in alliance with the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) led by Jat leader Hanuman Beniwal. The RLP won the Khinvsar, Merta and Bhopalgarh seats in the assembly elections last year.

Congress is going to contest all the 25 seats in the forthcoming election on its own. In the assembly election 2018, it had allied with Rashtriya Lok Dal led by Ajit Singh, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Sharad Yadav’s Loktantrik Janata Dal.

As 13 of the desert state’s 25 parliamentary constituencies go to polls on April 29, the national parties are going to face a tough competition once again.

Also read: Can BJP reverse 2018 election losses in Rajasthan?

While the BJP has used the charisma of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the issues of nationalism and national security as poll planks this year, the Congress has raised local issues and is banking on its minimum income scheme Nunyatam Aay Yojna (Nyay), which guarantees Rs 72,000 to the 20% of the country’s poorest people annually, a separate budget for farmers and addressing unemployment.

On Monday, more than 2.5 million voters will decide the fate of the 115 candidates in the fray in these Lok Sabha seats at 28,182 polling centres. These constituencies are Tonk-Sawai Madhopur, Ajmer, Pali, Jodhpur, Barmer, Jalore, Udaipur, Banswara, Chittorgarh, Rajsamand, Bhilwara, Kota and Jhalawar-Baran.

Also read: Oldest Lok Sabha candidate in Rajasthan is 76-years-old, youngest is 30

Eight candidates are contesting from the Tonk-Sawai Madhopur Lok Sabha seat, seven from Ajmer, eight from Pali, ten each from Jodhpur, Chittorgarh and Rajsamand, seven from Barmer, 15 each from Jalore and Kota, nine from Udaipur, five from Banswara, four from Bhilwara, and seven from Jhalawar-Baran.

Of these 13 parliamentary constituencies, the most keenly watched seats are Barmer, Jodhpur and Rajsamand.

Political analyst Narayan Bareth said the BJP and Congress both have been campaigning aggressively in the state. “The BJP has tried to conduct the canvassing in this Lok Sabha election in form of the presidential election in the US,” Bareth said.

“It is campaigning on three issues: Candidate is immaterial and only Narendra Modi is relevant; the Congress has done nothing in the last 70 years and nationalism. Congress is stuck between traditional and modern ways of campaigning. At few places, the Congress is luring voters through traditional way, while at some places, it is luring through modern manner,” he said.

Also read: Will Manvendra Singh repeat his 2004 Barmer Lok Sabha victory for Congress in 2019?

Bareth said it is a tough contest in Jodhpur. “People of the Jodhpur parliamentary constituency have to choose from two choices... They have to vote either looking to the works and connectivity of chief minister Ashok Gehlot or Modi’s larger than life image,” he said.

The Congress has fielded the son of the BJP’s founder member and former Union minister Jaswant Singh, Manvendra Singh, in Barmer, which is dominated by Jats. Manvendra was the sitting MLA from the Sheo assembly constituency in Barmer district and prior to the assembly elections, he joined the Congress.

He was fielded as the Congress candidate from Jhalarapatan assembly constituency, the home turf of former chief minister Vasundhara Raje, and lost. Manvendra is contesting against the BJP’s former MLA from Baytoo Kailash Choudhary.

Also read: Could have done more for drinking water, says Jodhpur MP Shekhawat

The Jodhpur Lok Sabha seat has become a battle of prestige between the two parties with chief minister Ashok Gehlot’s son Vaibhav Gehlot pitted against Union minister and sitting MP Gajendra Shekhawat. In fact, Ashok Gehlot had first reached out to Jat leader Beniwal for a tie-up in a bid to secure the community’s votes for Vaibhav

The member of the erstwhile royal family of Jaipur and former MLA from Sawai Madhopur Diya Kumari has been fielded from the Rajput-dominated seat of Rajsamand by the BJP, while Congress has nominated Devkinandan (Kaka).

Also read: BJP’s Diya Kumari banking on Modi wave in Rajsamand seat

The votes will be counted on May 23 and the results are expected on the same day.

 

Constituency Sitting MP
Madhya Pradesh
Balaghat Bodhsingh Bhagat, BJP
Chhindwara Kamal Nath, Congress
Jabalpur Rakesh Singh, BJP
Mandla Faggan Singh Kulaste, BJP
Shahdol Gyan Singh, BJP
Sidhi Riti Pathak, BJP
Rajasthan
Ajmer  Raghu Sharma, Congress
Banswara Manshankar Nimana, BJP
Barmer Sona Ram Choudhary, BJP
Bhilwara Subhash Baheria, BJP
Chhittorgarh Chandra Prakash Joshi, BJP
Jalore Devji Patel, BJP
Jhalawar-Baran Dushyant Singh, BJP
Jodhpur Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, BJP
Kota Om Birla, BJP
Pali P P Choudhary, BJP
Rajsamand Hariom Singh Rathore, BJP
Tonk-Sawai Madhopur Sukhbir Singh Jaunapuria, BJP
Udaipur Arjunlal Meena, BJP
Jammu and Kashmir
Anantnag Vacant
Maharashtra
Bhiwandi Kapil Moreshwar Patil, BJP
Dhule Dr. Bhamre Subhash Ramrao, BJP
Dindori Chavan Harishchandra Devram, BJP
Kalyan Dr.Shrikant Eknath Shinde, Shiv Sena
Mumbai North Gopal Chinayya Shetty, BJP
Mumbai North West Gajanan Chandrakant Kirtikar, Shiv Sena
Mumbai North East Kirit Somaiya, BJP
Mumbai North Central Poonam Mahajan, BJP
Mumbai South Central Rahul Ramesh Shewale, Shiv Sena
Mumbai South Arvind Ganpat Sawant, Shiv Sena
Maval Shrirang Chandu Barne, Shiv Sena
Nandurbar Dr Heena Gavit, BJP
Nashik Godse Hemant Tukaram, Shiv Sena
Palghar Rajendra Gavit, BJP
Shirdi Lokhande Sadashiv Kisan, Shiv Sena
Shirur Adhalrao Shivaji Dattatrey, Shiv Sena
Thane Vichare Rajan Baburao, Shiv Sena
Constituency Sitting MP
Uttar Pradesh
Akbarpur  Devendra Singh Bhole, BJP
Etawah  Ashok Kumar Doharey, BJP
Farrukhabad Mukesh Rajput, BJP
Hamirpur Kunwar Pushpendra Singh Chandel, BJP
Hardoi Anshul Verma, BJP
Jalaun Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma, BJP
Jhansi Uma Bharti, BJP
Kannauj Dimple Yadav, SP
Kanpur Murli Manohar Joshi, BJP
Kheri Ajay Kumar, BJP
Misrikh Anju Bala, BJP
Shahjahanpur Krishna Raj, BJP
Unnao Sakshi Maharaj, BJP
Jharkhand
Chatra Sunil Kumar Singh, BJP
Palamu Vishnu Dayal Ram, BJP
Lohardaga Sudarshan Bhagat, BJP
Odisha
Balasore Rabindra Kumar Jena, BJD
Bhadrak Arjun Charan Sethi, BJD
Jagatsinghpur Kulamani Samal, BJD
Jajpur Rita Tarai, BJD
Kendrapara Baijayant Panda, BJD (now in BJP)
Mayurbhang Rama Chandra Hansdah, BJD
West Bengal
Asansol Babul Supriyo, BJP
Baharampur Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Congress
Bardhman Purba Sunil Kumar Mondal, Trinamool Congress
Bolpur Anupam Hazra, Trinamool Congress
Birbhum  Shatabdi Roy, Trinamool Congress
Burdwan-Durgapur Mamtaz Sanghamita, Trinamool Congress
Krishnanagar Tapas Paul, Trinamool
Ranaghat Tapas Mandal, Trinamool
Bihar
Begusarai Dr. Bhola Singh, BJP
Darbhanga Kirti Azad, BJP
Munger Veena Devi, LJP
Samastipur  Ram Chandra Paswan, LJP
Ujiarpur Nityanand Rai, BJP
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