Jaipur, Sep 14 (PTI) Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma on Monday said the BJP’s “historic victory” in the urban local body polls reflected people’s faith in the party and its development model.
Addressing the media at the BJP state headquarters here, Sharma thanked voters and party workers and said the result was a “victory of the people’s trust.” He said the people of Rajasthan endorsed the work of the BJP government during the last two-and-a-half years under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s central leadership.
The ruling BJP increased its lead over the Congress in the Rajasthan urban local body elections on Monday, winning over 4,171 wards against the opposition party’s 3,597 as results for at least 10,200 wards were declared.
Of the 10,244 wards where counting was held, results for 10,210 were declared till 5.45 pm.
Sharma said the government’s focus on development in rural and urban areas, along with the BJP’s outreach to people strengthened the party’s connect with voters.
He claimed that 78 per cent of the commitments made by his government were fulfilled.
The chief minister said his government would work with greater focus on “village development and ward development” and fulfil the promises made to the poor, youth, women, and senior citizens in its urban development manifesto.
Sharma also claimed that his government’s public hearing and grievance-redressal initiatives recorded an 84 per cent success rate.
The poll verdict also reflected the faith of young people in the vision of “Viksit Bharat-Viksit Rajasthan” under Modi’s leadership, he said.
“The BJP’s public outreach model, its approach of listening to common people and resolving their grievances has been accepted by the people,” Sharma said.
While the BJP celebrated its victory, the Congress claimed that the results exposed the government’s “poor performance”, saying the party’s lead over the Congress in vote share was less than one percentage point.
Addressing a press conference here, state Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra said the BJP has traditionally had an advantage in urban local body polls, particularly when in power, but Monday’s results showed that it failed to retain that edge.
Dotasra claimed that the BJP had a vote-share lead of 8.12 percentage points over the Congress during the 2014-16 urban polls under the Vasundhara Raje government, while the Congress had a 2.2 percentage point lead over the BJP during the 2019-21 polls under the Ashok Gehlot government.
“In this election, the BJP’s lead over the Congress is less than one per cent,” he said.
Dotasra also alleged that the Congress would have won around 1,500 more wards but for irregular and “unfair” delimitation of wards.
He said the Congress won 542 wards reserved for Scheduled Castes, against 350 won by the BJP.
In SC women-reserved wards, he said the Congress won 261 seats compared with 186 by the BJP, while in ST women-reserved wards, the Congress won 53 against the BJP’s 39.
He also alleged that the BJP government used the administrative machinery during the elections and deliberately delayed results in some wards where Congress candidates were leading.
The Congress leader claimed that delimitation caused wide variations in the number of voters across wards.
Of the 4,097 wards won by the BJP, he claimed, the victory margin was less than 100 votes in 1,316 wards and less than 50 votes in 772 wards.
The BJP won 13 wards by a margin of just one vote, as a result of delimitation, he said.
Dotasra said the Congress won 37 of 80 wards in Ajmer, against 32 won by the BJP.
In Pali, the BJP state president’s home turf, the Congress won 29 of 65 wards, while the BJP won 21, he claimed.
In Bikaner, the Congress won 42 of 80 wards and was set to form the board, he said.
In Jodhpur, the Congress won 45 wards, one more than the BJP, and secured 42.7 per cent of the votes against the BJP’s 39.8 per cent, according to Dotasara.
In Jaipur, the Congress polled more than 10,000 votes more than the BJP despite the BJP winning more wards, he said, attributing the pattern to delimitation.
BJP’s performance was poor in Bharatpur, the chief minister’s home district, where it won only 20 of 65 wards, Dotasra said.
The Congress performed well in areas associated with senior BJP leaders and ministers, including Sikar, Jhunjhunu, Bikaner, Hanumangarh and Churu, the party leader said. PTI AG VN VN
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