Rajasthan assembly elections 2023 highlights: In Nov 25 battle royale, Congress eyes another term while BJP banks on Modi magic

Polling will be held from 7 am to 6 pm in 199 out of 200 constituencies amid tight security arrangements, chief electoral officer Praveen Gupta said. Polling stations have been set up at a total of 36,101 places in the state. “A total of 10,501 polling stations have been set up in urban areas and 41,006 in rural areas. Live webcasting will be conducted at a total of 26,393 polling stations. These polling centers will be monitored from the district level control room,” he said.

BJP’s bid to look beyond the regional satraps in the party made it incumbent upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi to shoulder the burden of electioneering. Besides, Modi knows Rajasthan as well as he knows neighbouring Gujarat. Modi’s roadshows in Jaipur and Bikaner were strategically executed in line with BJP’s electoral tasks on hand

The Misery Index is the sum of the unemployment rate and the inflation rate. By this yardstick, of the current crop of major poll-bound states, the one that is most miserable is Rajasthan while the least miserable is Chhattisgarh. The data have been taken from the government’s Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for 2022-23 and the Consumer price index for October 2023.

Due to the elections, the state government has declared a holiday. According to the October 16, 2023 notification issued by the state government, the date of the election has been declared a public holiday. Further, banks in the state will also be closed. The Reserve Bank of India has updated its state-wise bank holiday schedule to reflect the same.

In Sikar's Danta Ramgarh seat, a wife is facing her husband. Haryana-based Jannayak Janta Party’s Rita Chaudhary is pitted against her husband Congress leader Virendra Chaudhary.

A rail track that cuts through the main Bikaner market and divides the city between east and west has become an unlikely poll issue with people united on one central point – that the traffic jams must stop and politicians must fulfil their promise to provide an elevated road. While the incumbent MLA of Bikaner East is BJP's Siddhi Kumari, Congress leader Bulaki Das Kalla has been the MLA from Bikaner West.

The Election Commission of India has set up a polling booth in a remote village on the Indo-Pak border in Barmer district, which has a population of 35. And all these people are members of a single family. The village used to face a significant challenge during the election period, as people here had to travel a distance of 20 kilometres to the nearest polling station. This hard journey required walking or riding camels, making it particularly challenging for women and elderly people to undertake.

Former BJP leader and Rashtriya Loktantrik Party supremo Hanuman Beniwal is likely to garner Jat votes which might have gone to the BJP in some constituencies. In tribal areas, the new Bhartiya Adivasi Party is the one to watch out for.

Doctor-turned-poll candidate, Deepak Ghogra, campaigned in Dungarpur constituency for good health. He is hoping to be elected the city's next representative from the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) after the polls. "I am on the election campaign trail and many patients want to see me. Since I am unable to meet them, I carry my stethoscope and medicines with me so that if anyone need my help, I can diagnose them and offer medical advice," he had said during the campaign trail.

BJP's state unit chief CP Joshi, seen as a strong contender for the Chief Minister's post, has ruled himself out of the race. Joshi said he was "looking forward to putting the first garland on the Chief Minister of Rajasthan if the BJP comes to power". Speculation peaked as the party fielded several leaders who do not see eye-to-eye with Vasundhara Raje, the last BJP Chief Minister in the state.

"No leader should be worried about me. It is for my party and my people to think about me. We are dedicated towards the fight of our ideologies and the Congress party will emerge victorious across the country in that fight," said Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's
remarks about him during an election rally in the state earlier this week.

The presence of Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM in the poll scene could split the Muslim vote in some constituencies. Similarly, newly formed Bhartiya Adivasi too can make it tougher for the party in the tribal belt.

Wooing the "Mool OBC" remains a key agenda for Congress. The "Mool OBC" refers to a group of over 50 percent of the total Other Backward Class (OBC) voters. They seek the benefits of the OBC reservation. These castes include Mali, Teli, Kumhar, Nai, Dhobi, Ravana and many others. They are among the OBC castes that claim to have negligible benefit of the reservation system as large part of the seats are occupied by the ‘dominant OBC’ group.

In a show of unity, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday posted a video on social media platforms in which his former deputy Sachin Pilot is making an appeal to people to vote for the Congress. Polling will take place on Saturday. The video post assumes significance as the Pilot-Gehlot power tussle has found frequent mention in the campaigning for the state assembly polls by BJP.

"I believe that democracy has become mature in India and voters have become aware...The public has become so aware that now everybody trusts their judgement. Tomorrow, voting will take place in Rajasthan. This election is very important and interesting...People like the way Congress works and after numerous efforts by BJP, their election campaign didn't work out well," said Sachin Pilot in Tonk.

Data from the State Election Commission showed that there are 17,241 voters above the age of 100. There are more than four women voters in this age group for every man. While the number of women voters is over 13,000, the figure for men is over 3,700.

Ashok Gehlot (Congress): The 72-year-old veteran politician is aspiring to make history by securing a fourth term as Chief Minister.

Vasundhara Raje (BJP): The BJP has not nominated the 70-year-old former royal as its Chief Ministerial candidate. An aggrieved Raje chose to skip the party's Parivartan Sankalp Yatra in certain districts, where opposition claims there was a low turnout.

Sachin Pilot (Congress): The 46-year-old's dissatisfaction at losing the Chief Minister's position to Gehlot has been evident. This discontent led to a rebellion in July 2020. Pilot enjoys the support of the Gujjar community.

Both the BJP and Congress fall short when it comes to fielding 33 per cent women candidates. The Congress has given tickets to 28 women candidates (14 percent), whereas the BJP has fielded 20 female candidates (10 percent) of the total 200 assembly seats. In 2018 assembly polls, Congress gave tickets to 27 women candidates, whereas the BJP fielded 23 women.

A single bench of Rajasthan high court granted relief to Mewaram Jain, Congress candidate from Barmer, exempting him from appearing before the Enforcement Directorate office in Jaipur. The bench quashed and set aside the summons issued. However, the bench has given the liberty to the ED to issue fresh notice to Jain for appearance on dates post December 3.

"There is an undercurrent for Congress Rajasthan. I can feel that in the whole state, there is a wave of Congress. Villages that were previously supporting the BJP are now supporting Congress due to our schemes and policies...Many candidates will win in this (undercurrent), for whom there were feelings that they were not winning. If there is an undercurrent, we will form the government," said Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.

The Congress has fielded Manvedra Singh from the Siwana constituency, which was earlier a part of Barmer and now included in the newly-formed Balotra district. He is the son of party stalwart and ex-Union minister late Jaswant Singh Manvendra, who was hoping for a ticket from Jaisalmer, will take on the BJP’s sitting two-term MLA Hameer Singh Bhayal from Siwana, which the Congress had last won in 1998.

This desert town known for India's first and second nuclear tests is witnessing a close fight between a Hindu seer and the son of a Muslim religious leader. Both are making extra efforts to reach out to people from each other's communities. BJP has again fielded Pratap Puri, head of the Taratara 'math' in the Barmer district, against Congress' sitting MLA Shale Mohammad, whose father Gazi Fakir is a Muslim religious leader.

In the Shekhawati region, which accounts for 21 of the 200 seats in the Rajasthan assembly, Jat voters have swung the results in opposite directions in the past two elections, and both the Congress and BJP know that this community does not stay with them permanently.

-Sardarpura: A Congress stronghold since 1998. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has been consistently securing this seat for the party in the last four state elections.
-Jhalrapatan: Former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, has been winning this seat since 2003. Raje, a prominent Rajput woman from the Scindia royal family, is a well-known political figure in the state and emerges as the BJP's strongest candidate to present a formidable challenge to Congress.

-Tonk: Sachin Pilot clinched the seat for the Congress in the 2018 elections. Tonk boasts a significant Gujjar population; Meenas and Muslims are the two other largest communities in the district.

-Lachhmangarh" Congress leader Govind Singh Dostara has won this seat for the last four times and is up against BJP's union minister Subhash Maharia. The BJP has won this seat just once in 2003.

-Udaipurwati: In the 2018 elections, Rajendra Gudha, who was expelled from the Gehlot Cabinet, won as a BSP candidate. After the elections, Gudha switched to the Congress and is currently part of Eknath Schinde's Shiv Sena.

The promise of restoring the Old Pension Scheme may give an edge to the ruling Congress in Rajasthan. About 7 lakh employees and their families are expected to benefit from this scheme.A long list of welfare schemes launched by the Ashok Gehlot-led government may also help Congress. These schemes include Rs 25-lakh medical insurance, MGNREGA-like employment scheme for urban areas, cooking gas cylinders at Rs 500 for the Ujjwala scheme beneficiaries, smartphones for women and a social security allowance.

Out of the total 200 assembly seats in Rajasthan, 199 will be contested on November 25. This is because the election in the Karanpur assembly constituency was adjourned after the Congress candidate from Karanpur, Gurmeet Singh Koonar, died due to sepsis. Koonar was the sitting MLA from Karanpur.

Titar Singh, a Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) labourer, has been fighting one election or another since the mid-1980s. Despite over 30 defeats in various elections, Singh, who is over 70 years old, is all set to lock horns with the BJP and Congress heavyweights in the Karanpur Assembly constituency in Rajasthan. According to reports, Singh does not declare any property. No political party gives a ticket to Singh but he fills out the form every time as an independent candidate.

Anjana Udayalal (Congress) emerged as the wealthiest, boasting assets worth over Rs 122.9 crore with just a mere 14 percent increase in the past five years. In contrast, the least affluent, represented by Kalpana Devi (BJP), holds assets of approximately Rs 56 crore.

- Caste-based census
- Bill for the procurement of farm crops on MSP
- Scheme for jobs at panchayat level
- 4 lakh government jobs in five years
- An annual honorarium of Rs 10,000 to woman head of family
- LPG cylinders at Rs 500 to 1.04 crore families
- Purchase of dung from cattle rearers at Rs 2 per kg
- Chiranjeevi health insurance scheme to be made from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 50 lakh
- Law for the old pension scheme for government employees.
- Free laptops/tablets for students taking admission to government colleges
- Insurance covers of up to Rs 15 lakh per family for losses due to natural calamity
- MNREGA and Indira Gandhi urban employment will be increased from 125 to 150 days

-- POLLING DATE: November 25, 2023 (Saturday)
-- RESULT DATE: December 3, 2023 (Sunday)
-- TOTAL SEATS: 200
-- POLITICAL PARTIES: BJP, Congress, AAP, BSP, AIMIM
-- CURRENT RULING PARTY IN RAJASTHAN: Congress
-- RAJASTHAN CURRENT CM: Ashok Gehlot

Polling in all 200 constituencies of Rajasthan will be held on November 25 and the counting of votes will be taken up on December 3.

When Gehlot went to Tonk district to campaign this week, Pilot was not present on the stage though he was one of the four Congress candidates fighting from that very district.

Former BJP CM Vasundhara Raje may not have been projected as the CM face but she has aggressively campaigned for her candidates and could be back in the reckoning if 50 or more of her loyalists win. Others such as Diya Kumari and Rajendra Rathore are also in the race.

--She is from the Scindia royal family. Her mother Vijayaraje Scindia was a prominent leader in the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) and later in the BJP.
-- Made political debut in 1984 with the BJP, was elected vice president of the youth wing in Rajasthan in 1985 and then the vice president of the state unit two years later. In 2003, she became the first woman Chief Minister of Rajasthan.
-- She is married to Hemant Singh, the head of the Dholpur royal family in Rajasthan.
-- Her son Dushyant Singh is an MP from Jhalawar.
-- She did her graduation in economics and political science from Sophia College in Mumbai.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former chief minister Vasundhara Raje shared the stage at an election rally in Anta which many saw as an attempt to send out a message that everything was fine between her and the BJP high command. This was the first rally in which PM Modi and Ms Raje were present together since the elections were announced. Raje is considered among the leaders in the race for the chief minister's post

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan targeted Rahul Gandhi for his "panauti" jibe against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, claiming the former Congress chief and his sister were happy when the Indian cricket team lost the World Cup final match.
He claimed that Rahul Gandhi has become a "national problem".

EC has issued a showcause notice Congress MP Rahul Gandhi for comparing Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a “pickpocket (jeb katra)” and calling him “panauti” (bad luck).The notice was issued after BJP filed a complaint. EC has asked Rahul to give his explanation on the alleged Model Code of Conduct violation by 6 pm on Saturday.

Polling will be held from 7 am to 6 pm on Saturday and results will be declared on December 3. As per EC's directive, there will be no election-related public meeting or procession or campaigning on television.