BJP’s Kailash Choudhary himself acknowledged that there was resentment against him.
These days, the Lok Sabha candidate who is receiving the maximum attention in Rajasthan politics is Ravindra Singh Bhati, an independent MLA from the Sheo Assembly constituency, which is part of the Barmer Lok Sabha seat. An erstwhile member of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which he had joined before the 2023 Assembly elections, Bhati rebelled when denied a ticket to contest the elections. He fought as an independent and won Sheo in the Assembly elections.
He is now contesting as an independent candidate from Barmer in the Lok Sabha elections.
Bhati is immensely popular in the area, and being young—he is a little over 26—gives him a great connect with the youth, where the other leaders are much older and have enjoyed a good political innings.
Sources say that before deciding to contest as an independent from Barmer, Bhati had a brief meeting with Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma, but the talks failed.
According to sources, Bhati wanted to be a part of the Rajasthan government, as a minister, or perhaps he was hoping to get a Lok Sabha ticket from Barmer. But the BJP showed faith in incumbent MP Kailash Choudhary, who, however, is facing anti-incumbency and a decline in popularity.
Kailash Choudhary himself acknowledged in a program that there was resentment against him in Barmer. In fact he went to the extent of saying that the punishment for his mistake should not be given to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and so voters should vote for the “Kamal”—the lotus, BJP’s symbol.
Barmer is voting in the second phase on 26 April and if the crowd gathered at nomination rallies is considered a criterion, then Bhati appears ahead of all the candidates. However, whether the rally crowd will translate into votes or not, it is premature to say anything about it.
Both the BJP and Congress have fielded seasoned leaders in the electoral battle for the contest on the Barmer seat, and both parties have deployed their resources accordingly.
In the state, the BJP has been winning 25 seats continuously for the past two elections in 2014 and 2019, but this time, there is a snag in the Barmer seat.
Sources claim that Home Minister Amit Shah had a meeting with Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma and other officials in Jodhpur, where Shah received negative feedback regarding this seat. Subsequently, he is believed to have told party workers to dedicate themselves to ensuring a victory for the BJP. Barmer has around 4.5 lakh Jat voters.
In the last elections a majority of them voted for the BJP, but Kailash Choudhary, a Jat failed to deliver, because of which Congress has fielded a Jat candidate, Ummed Ram Beniwal. Congress also enjoys support from the Muslim community. The seat also has a good number of Rajput voters, who traditionally vote for the BJP, but after Bhati’s nomination, many of them are shifting towards Bhati as he represents their caste.
However, a political expert from the area said, “People claiming Ravindra Bhati’s victory in Barmer are neglecting the influence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Rajasthan. Sure, Bhati might be strong here, but once PM Modi hits the campaign trail, voters won’t care about any other candidate. Remember the 2014 Barmer Lok Sabha election? Jaswant Singh contested as an independent, and everyone thought the BJP would lose. But when the results came, the BJP emerged victorious with 40% of the votes, while Jaswant Singh came second with 33%, and Congress trailed with 18%.”
Historically, the Congress party has held the seat in nine out of the 15 Lok Sabha elections, from 1957 to 2014, with the BJP winning three times during that period. However, in recent elections, the BJP has gained a stronger foothold, as in the 2014 elections: Colonel Sonaram Choudhary, who switched from the Congress to the BJP, won the seat, defeating independent candidate and former Union Minister Jaswant Singh in 2014, while in the 2019 Elections, BJP’s Kailash Choudhary secured a significant victory with 59.5% of the votes, indicating a solid support base for the BJP in the region.