Udaipur : ‘Win Mewar Vagad Win Rajasthan’ had been the popular belief for winning parties in state assembly elections till now. However this time the notion proved wrong for both the parties. BJP which had 25 of the 28 seats manager to retain 15 seats this time however the victory didnt come with a guarantee to power for the saffron Party this time.
On the other hand Mewar Vagad Seats that had been once believed to be the Congress bastion, failed the party candidates as the party could only capture 10 seats. Two seats went to Bhartiya Tribal Party candidates and one to Independent candidate Ramila Khadiya, a congress rebel in Banswara’s Kushalgarh constituency. Of the 8 seats in Udaipur, BJP won 6 while Congress candidates Gajendra Singh Shaktawat and Dayaram Parmar were victorious at Vallabhnagar and Kherwada respectively.
In Udaipur city, Home Minister Gulabchand Kataria managed to defeat veteran leader Dr Girija Vyas with a margin of over 9 thousand votes while his rural counterpart PhoolSingh Meena defeated rival Vivek Katara with a comparatively better margin of some 15 thousand votes. Kataria who trailed in the initial rounds by a margin of over 5 thousand votes made a comeback in the second half of counting rounds. The most surprising defeat for the Congress party came from Gogunda where Pratap Bheel, an under estimated candidate defeated Mangilal Garasiya, former state minister for sports and youth affairs. Similarly Raghuveer Meena ex MP who contested from Salumber had to face defeat at the hands of BJP candidate by margin of 10 thousand votes. interestingly Reshma Meena the Congress rebel received more than 10 thousand votes causing Raghuveer’s defeat.
Despite acheiveing victory , excitement was absent among both party workers because the win appeared unfruitful for both. ” Udaipur is at losing end both ways. Congress candidates have lost the region but won the state. The Congress would form government, but Udaipur has 6 BJP legislatures and there would not much to hope from the government then ” says RamChandra Sharma, a school teacher.
