Jaipur, Sep 17 (PTI) Former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday accused the ruling BJP of using money power and misusing the police and administrative machinery to secure control of urban local bodies where it has fallen short of a majority.
Gehlot alleged at a press conference here that councillors were being offered between Rs 1.5 crore and Rs 2.5 crore to support BJP candidates in the elections for mayors and chairpersons.
“The game of horse-trading has now reached the urban local bodies,” Gehlot alleged, claiming that ministers and officials were being used to influence councillors.
The allegations come as political parties seek the support of Independents and other councillors ahead of indirect elections for mayors and chairpersons in several urban local bodies where no party has a clear majority.
Gehlot claimed police and administrative pressure was being exerted on Congress and Independent councillors in several places, including Mandawa in Jhunjhunu, Neemrana, Tonk, Jodhpur, Kotputli-Behror, Sikar, Dholpur, Jalore, Ajmer and Bundi.
He also alleged that an IAS officer posted in the Chief Minister’s Office was putting pressure on collectors and sub-divisional magistrates.
“Democracy is being openly looted in Rajasthan,” Gehlot said earlier in the day in a post on X.
The senior Congress leader added that if a person spent crores of rupees to become a mayor or chairperson, the money would eventually be recovered through corruption.
“This would result in corruption in civic works and services related to roads, drains, land deeds and other municipal matters that will ultimately burden the people,” he said.
Elections for mayors and chairpersons in 305 urban local bodies are scheduled for September 21, followed by elections for deputy mayors, deputy chairpersons and municipal vice-presidents on September 22.
At the press conference later, Gehlot said the BJP had failed to secure clear majorities in urban bodies in the home regions of several senior party leaders, including Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma’s Bharatpur, Union Ministers Bhagirath Choudhary’s Ajmer, Bhupender Yadav’s Alwar and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat’s Jodhpur, state BJP president Madan Rathore’s Pali and former chief minister Vasundhara Raje’s Jhalawar.
The BJP, however, surged ahead of the Congress in the statewide civic elections. After results of the repolled wards were declared on Thursday, the BJP’s final tally stood at 4,182 wards and the Congress at 3,619, while Independents won 2,273 wards.
Gehlot said the vote-share difference between the BJP and Congress was less than one percentage point and alleged that delimitation had contributed to a wider difference in the number of wards won.
He said the BJP secured 35.19 per cent votes against the Congress’ 34.25 per cent, a difference of 0.94 percentage point.
Citing Jodhpur, Gehlot claimed the Congress received 14,282 more votes than the BJP, securing 42.22 per cent votes against the BJP’s 39.41 per cent, but both parties initially won 44 wards each before the result of one ward was decided following repolling.
He alleged that faulty delimitation had distorted the conversion of votes into seats. He made a similar allegation about Jaipur, claiming that the Congress received 14,620 more votes overall despite the BJP winning more wards.
The former Rajasthan chief minister claimed that the BJP failed to secure a clear majority in 223 of the state’s 309 urban local bodies. PTI SDA PRK
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