NEW DELHI
Ahead of the Rajasthan Assembly elections on 25 November, both Congress and BJP are trying to suppress the rebellion after ticket distribution, resulting in candidates who did not get tickets from either party filing their nominations as independent candidates. In the 2018 elections, the independent candidates troubled both the BJP and Congress, which managed 9.47% of the votes. In the 200-seat Assembly, there were 39 seats where the margin of victory was less than a thousand votes, and 22 candidates contested independently, out of whom 13 emerged victorious in the 2018 Assembly elections. The Congress suffered the most from these independent candidates, with 10 candidates winning out of 11 who parted ways after they were denied Congress tickets. However, the situation with the BJP was good in that election, and out of 11 rebel candidates, only two could secure victory. However, the effect of this was seen in seats where the victory margin was very low.
In this election, independent candidates are spoiling the mathematics of both national parties. With RLP distributing tickets or supporting such candidates who switched from the BJP and Congress, by withdrawing the nomination of its announced candidates, such independent candidates are dividing the votes of both parties; however, their victory is uncertain under the bipolar election scenario in Rajasthan. The list of such rebel candidates includes Ravinder Bhati, who, after being denied a ticket from the BJP, announced his nomination to contest independently from Sheo constituency in Jaisalmer district.
Another big leader is Priyanka Choudhary, who was denied a BJP ticket by Barmer has fielded her nomination as an independent candidate. Choudhary has also secured support from Hanuman Beniwal’s RLP, whose candidate withdrew his nomination in favour of Choudhary from Barmer constituency.
However, on the last day of withdrawing nominations, the BJP managed the infight and successfully withdrew the nominations of independent candidates. This includes, Rajpal Singh Shekhawat withdrew his nomination from Jhotwara. Girdhari Tiwari from Bharatpur, Ranjit Sodala from Civil Lines, Subhash Khandelwala, and Surendra Singh Shekhawat from Ajmer North withdrew their nominations. Apart from this, Madan Rathore has also withdrawn his name from Sumerpur.
The Congress also tried to suppress the rebellion by withdrawing the nominations of its rebel leaders, including Rameshwar Dadhich from Sursagar, Hemant Bhati, a supporter of Sachin Pilot from Amjer South, Brahmadev Kumawat from Masuda, Kumbh Singh from Falodi, Hemant Bhati from Ajmer South, and Balram Verma from Suratgarh where he is supporting the party’s candidate, Dungarram Gaidar. Mohsin Rashid withdrew his name from Tonk. Now he is supporting Sachin Pilot from here.