The Fatehpur Assembly constituency in Rajasthan’s Sikar district, which the Congress won by a margin of merely 860 votes, is again in the limelight for the 2023 Assembly elections. This seat has never been a stronghold of any political party; rather, it went with the strongest candidate. In the last 10 state Assembly elections, the winning margin has crossed the 1000 mark only twice, and no candidate, except Bhanwaru Khan of Congress, has been re-elected in this constituency. In the 2018 elections, Congress’s Hakam Ali Khan defeated the BJP’s Sunita Kumari by a margin of 860 votes. This time, Congress has again fielded Hakim Ali Khan, while the BJP has changed its candidate and has fielded Shravan Chaudhary, who recently joined the BJP from the BSP. Chaudhary had to face heat from the local leaders after his candidature was announced. Madhusudan Bhinda, the son of a former MLA, has opposed his candidature and said he will enter the election campaign as an independent candidate if the candidate is not changed. He also said that Chaudhary is an outsider to the constituency. However, things seem fine as of now for Chaudhary. He projects himself as a firebrand Hindu from a Muslim-dominant seat.
In the 2013 Assembly election, Nand Kishore Maharia, then a BJP rebel and independent candidate, defeated Congress’ Bhanwaru Khan, a three-time MLA, by a margin of 3,926 votes, while Khan defeated Maharia twice in 2008 and 2003 by a margin of 8,264 votes and 21,831 votes. The BJP last won this seat in 1993, when Banwari Lal defeated the Congress candidate by a margin of 2,837. However, the BJP has always been in a direct fight for this seat but could not capitalise on any further opportunity. The win margin on this seat has never been huge, so an interesting contest is always there on this seat. However, the BJP has always taken the lead in this seat during the Lok Sabha elections. Unlike Assembly elections, the margin here is always huge in comparison to Assembly elections. In the 2019 elections, the BJP’s Narendra Kumar bagged 57.44% of the votes while the Congress candidate could only manage 41.18% of the votes, while during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP’s candidate Santosh Ahlawat managed 50.93% while the Congress candidate Raj Bala Ola managed only 39.3% of votes.
Taranagar
The Taranagar constituent Assembly is in the spotlight as the BJP has fielded Rajendra Rathore, leader of the opposition in the Rajasthan assembly. Rathore, a senior BJP leader and seven-time MLA, contested from Taranagr only once in 2008, while he has been a six-time MLA from Churu constituency. In the 2018 elections, Rathore’s victory margin was only 1,850 against Congress’s Rafique Mandelia. This time, he has been shifted to Taranagar. In the 2018 elections, Congress’s Narendra Budania defeated the BJP’s Rakesh Jangir by a margin of 12,555 votes. However, in the 2013 assembly elections, BJP’s Jai Narayan Poonia defeated Congress’ Chandrashekhar Baid by a margin of 11,136 votes, while in the 2008 Assembly elections, BJP’s Rajendra Rathore defeated Congress’ Chandrashekhar Baid by a margin of 17,616 votes. Congress in this constituency has been winning since the 1990 assembly elections. However, their winning streak was broken by Rathore in 2008, and in the 2013 elections, the BJP won this seat. During the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, BJP’s Rahul Kaswa had a lead from this constituency, where he managed to win 55.7% of votes, while Congress could only manage 39.07% of votes. While in the 2014 national assembly elections, Kaswa managed to bag 48.45% of votes, Congress could only manage 35.34%.
Rathore’s candidature from this constituency will boost the BJP in this seat, which is dominated by both the Jat and Rajput communities. Taranagar has a total of 254742 voters, out of which 133756 are male and 1,11,818 are female. While the BJP has changed its candidate, the Congress has retained sitting MLA Narendra Budania. Rathore has never lost an election to date. Infighting and anger against the sitting MLA by Congress workers could go in favour of Rathore.