Ajmer By Election Results 2018 Live: Congress Candidate Raghu Sharma Widens Lead Over BJP

New Delhi: In a few hours, the results for the all-crucial Rajasthan Lok Sabha bypolls, for Ajmer and Alwar seats will pour in and both BJP and Congress will be waiting anxiously since it are being viewed as a sort of “Semi-final” before the state heads to assembly polls later in the year.

The battle for Ajmer is particularly a prestige battle for Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee (RPCC) chief Sachin Pilot, who represented Ajmer in the Lok Sabha from 2009 to 2014.

The bypolls in Ajmer were necessitated by the death of sitting BJP MP Sanwarlal Jat in August 2017. The BJP has fielded Ramswaroop Lamba, Sanwarlal Jat’s son.

Lamba, a Jat, is being seen as the BJP’s attempt to not only cash in on the sympathy factor for the deceased MP but also to woo the Jat community, who constitute around 2.5 lakh voters in Ajmer.

However, reports indicate that local Jat leaders in the BJP are unhappy with the seat passing on to Sanwarlal Jat’s son as if it were a fiefdom. This, many believe, could hamper the ruling party’s chances.

The Congress, on the other hand, is testing a social engineering experiment that it could take forward into the upcoming assembly polls. The Congress’s chances, however, depend on Gujjar and Rajput voters, who together make up over 3 lakh votes, coming together.

In addition to the protests over Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film ‘Padmaavat’, the local Rajput community has also banded together in protest of the encounter of notorious gangster Anandpal Singh.

A senior Rajasthan Congress leader said, “A few decades ago, Gujjars used to vote for the Congress but had slowly shifted to BJP. But during these bypolls, when they saw Rajesh Pilot’s son come to them, they started shifting to Congress en masse. Sachin has also taken great care to reach out to the Rajput community, which forms a substantial chunk of voters in both places. It’s not just the Padmaavat issue. Rajputs across the state are feeling ignored by the BJP. Together, the Rajputs and Gujjars will drive Congress to victory in these bypolls.”