New Delhi: BJP’s Balaknath or ‘Rajasthan’s Yogi’, as he is more popularly known, defeated the Congress’ Imran Khan in east Rajasthan’s Tijara constituency by over 6,000 votes.
BJP fielded Balaknath, the sitting MP from Alwar, of which Tijara is a part, to tap into the constituency’s Yadav vote, as he belongs to the same community.
The Tijara constituency has a sizable population of Meo Muslims as well as Yadavs and Dalits.
According to estimates by analysts in the state, the assembly constituency is home to about 1,90,000 Hindus and 70,000 Muslims. Of the Hindus, Yadavs make up an estimated 65,000 of the population, Baniyas about 16,000, and Jatav Dalits about 13,000.
Balaknath had in the run-up to the polls termed the contest in Tijara an “India-Pakistan match”, making a pitch against “Talibani” forces which he blamed for spreading crime and impeding development.
Though he is also being seen as one of the BJP contenders for the chief minister’s chair, Balaknath had in conversation with ThePrint earlier dismissed such reports as “conjecture”, saying it was for the party to decide.
The India Today-Axis My India exit poll showed that 10 percent of the surveyees in Rajasthan wanted Balaknath to become chief minister.
He has in the past referred to former chief minister Vasundhara Raje as the frontrunner for the CM’s post.
The BJP is set to form the government in Rajasthan, winning 114 of the 199 seats that went to the polls last month (election to one seat cancelled following a candidate’s death). As of 7 pm, it also had a lead in one seat, suggesting a total strength of 115 for the BJP in a 200-member assembly.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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