Since it came into existence in 2008 after delimitation, Baytoo voters have never repeated any candidate.
NEW DELHI
Baytoo, an important constituency out of Rajasthan’s 200 Assembly constituencies, is in the Barmer district. It has always remained an important seat, as big leaders in the area from both the BJP and Congress have faced defeats at least once in this constituency. Sona Ram Choudhary of Congress, who was an MP for two terms from the Barmer Jaisalmer constituency, lost to Kailash Choudhary, the current MP from the Barmer Jaisalmer seat.
However, in the Assembly elections in 2018, Choudhary, the incumbent MLA at the time, came in third place, while Harish Choudhary of the Congress won this seat and Ummed Ram of the RLP was runners-up.
The importance of Barmer is very high in the Rajasthan Assembly elections. Voters vote alternatively for the BJP and Congress.
This time too, there is a neck-to-neck contest in this seat. Congress has retained the incumbent MLA and in-charge of Congress in Punjab as its candidate.
The BJP has fielded Balaram Moond, while the RLP has retained Ummed Ram. The contest here is triangular, and the BSP, which captured around 27,000 votes, has not fielded any candidates, and these votes may shift to the RLP due to its alliance with the Azad Samaj Party. If the Dalit votes shift to the RLP, it would be difficult for both national parties. Both national parties are holding huge rallies in the area.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi did a rally on 15 November, while Rahul Gandhi did a rally on 17 November. PM Modi, in the Baytoo rally, slammed the Congress government in the state by saying that the state government failed to protect the women in the state as Rajasthan tops in crime against women. PM Modi also said, “Gehlot was busy protecting his chief ministership” and he talked about the corruption during Congress rule by referring to the “laal diary”. In the rally, the PM asked the voters to vote in favour of BJP candidates for the betterment of Rajasthan. Since it came into existence in 2008 after delimitation, Baytoo voters have never repeated any candidate. This seat is dominated by Jat voters, and both national parties have fielded Jat candidates, while the Hanuman Beniwal-led RLP has also fielded candidates from the Jat community.
A local resident of the area said, “Not a party, but whoever promises to solve the water crisis in the area will get votes.” He added that the problem of drinking water persists in the area for both humans and cattle. A local expert in Baytoo said that not development but caste politics play an important role in the elections. Every candidate in the area promises better water facilities and power supply, but has failed to deliver, so in every election, the voters vote for a fresh candidate.