Jaipur: Pink City turns saffron

Ask any parent what they want their child to become when they grow up, the answer varies from the usual doctors and engineers to the rare astronaut or a pilot. There was a time when politicians were idolised and parents would ask their children to become reputed politician and actually ‘serve’ the country.

Seeing the present crop of politicians, one would think that time has long gone and would not return. But hold on there is some hope. Probably because of Vasundhara Raje’s charm or the huge margin with which the Saffron party won, whatever the reason, but there is a father who wants his ten-year-old son to become a politician when he grows up.

Meet Nand Singh Shekhawat, a villager from Manpur Macheri village north of Jaipur who is the father to ten-year-old, Yash Pratap Singh. Nand Singh dreams of his son becoming not a politician but a leader like Raje. On Sunday, he travelled all the way to state BJP office not only to witness the historic win of the BJP but to also show to his son, “his leader” Raje. “My son asked about elections and I told him. He wanted to see Raje so I got him here,” says Shekhawat.

Shekhawat stood the entire day amidst the crowd to catch a glimpse of Raje. And since little Yash was not able not see Raje due to the huge crowd, Shekhawat made him sit on his shoulders so that he could see her address the people.  “I have supported the party and want my son to be a leader like Raje. However, there will be no compromise with his studies,” he says.

Sanganer
1 Ghanshyam Tiwari of BJP defeated Sanjay Bapna of Congress. Tiwari polled 1,12,465 votes. Congress gamble on a new face—Sanjay Bapna—in Sanganer boomranged for his party. BJP stalwart Ghanshyam Tiwari’s second outing from  Sanganer saw him trouncing the debutant with a huge margin. Long political standing and a good hold over the area made it easy for Tiwari. In 2008 elections, he defeated Suresh Mishra of Congress by 32,000 votes and therefor this time Congress had fielded a new candidate from Sanganer. However, the ruling party was hoping that Tiwari might face some resistance from a few voters who looked unhappy with their sitting MLA.

But all these hopes dashed for the party as Tiwari won with a good margin this time. And also, it hoped in the rural areas of Sanganer, voters might to be in favour of change this time. However, this did not impact Tiwari’s chances as he enjoyed full support of Brahmin, Sindhi-Punjabi community which is traditional vote bank of RSS.

Vidhyadhar Nagar
2 Narpat Singh Rajvi of BJP defeated Vikram Singh Shekhawat of Congress. Rajvi polled 1,07,068 votes. Congress candidate Vikram Singh Shekhawat was said to be posing a tough challenge to sitting MLA and BJP candidate Narpat Singh Rajvi but in the end it was the people who gave a thumbs up to Rajvi. He is also the son-of-law of BJP stalwart leader and vice president Late Bhairon Singh Shekhawat (Babosa). This was Rajvi’s first election without his illustrious father-in-law and he succeeded to carry forward his legacy. Both candidates had fought from their respective parties in 2008 and Rajvi had defeated Shekhawat with a margin of 9040 votes. This time too Shekhawat who has been a councillor in Jaipur Municipal Corporation for almost a decade lost by 38,630 votes.

Bagru
3 Kailash Verma of BJP defeated Prahlad Raghu of the Congress. Verma polled 1,00,947 votes.

Both BJP and Congress had a tough fight but BJP had an upper edge since the beginning. Raghu is the brother-in-law of sitting Congress MLA Ganga Devi. Locals were curious when Congress ignored Ganga Devi and all through neither Ganga nor of her supporters were seen with Raghu during his campaigns. Kailash Verma his image of a clean and young candidate who did a lot of good work in the area saw him win the seat. Though Verma has been in Congress for long and joined the BJP a couple of months ago in him the people saw fresh hope. Verma had a stronghold in Bagru because of the work done by him here. Main castes here are Raiger, Bairwa and Khati but Brahamin, Baniyas and Jats are also in good number which have been the traditional voters of the BJP.

Kishanpol
4 Mohanlal Gupta of BJP defeated Amin Kagzi of Congress. Gupta polled 68,240 votes. Kishanpol witnessed a close contest between two time sitting MLA Gupta and Amin Kagzi since the begining. There are about 1.85 lakh voters in this constituency of which 40 per cent voters are Muslims and Kagzi was banking on them for his maiden win. Initially Jaipur mayor Joyti Khandelwal and other senior leaders of Congress were also keen on contesting from Kishanpol but Kagzi was able to get the ticket due to caste equations. Sensing caste equations over a dozen candidates from the minority community too had thrown their hat into the ring and contested as Independents to divide the votes. Though there was general discontent among people over lack of development in the area but voters of other castes got together in Gupta’s favour who belongs to Vaishya community which itself has a share of 24 per cent votes in this constituency. A large number of Brahmin population who are traditional voters of BJP too voted for the BJP.

Adarsh Nagar
5 Ashok Parnami of the BJP defeated Mahir Azad of Congress. Parnami polled 70,201 votes. Adarsh Nagar was the only constituency in Jaipur urban where both the parties decide to field ‘old’ enemies. Azad, who has an image of minority leader, worked hard to turn his lowest margin defeat of 1718 votes in 2008 into victory but failed miserably and lost by 2,931 votes this time. In reality caste and community factor worked well in Adarsh Nagar to Parnam’s credit. The constituency is dominated by Sindhi-Punjabi and minority community. Parnami was relaying on Sindhi-Punjabi votes. Many Independents from minority community ate up Azad’s vote share who was banking on their  support.

Civil Lines
6 Arun Chaturvedi of BJP defeated Pratap Singh Khachariyawas of Congress. He polled 77,693 votes. Civil Lines was one of the constituencies in Jaipur where both–Congress and BJP—were locked in a close contest. Khachariyawas had an edge on account of the work he had done in the area as sitting MLA. However, Chaturvedi, a former state BJP chief, who is a well-known face here, trounced Khachariyawas due to the presence of good number of Brahmin voters. With RSS supporting Chaturvedi, since the beginning the contest had become interesting in Civil Lines. It seems, around 20,000 Mali voters here who were feeling neglected because Congress had fielded Khachariyawas once again as they wanted one from their own community seems to have supported Chaturvedi. Overall, it was said to be a neck-and-neck fight between Congress and BJP. For Khachariyawas Amanishah Nullah issue ate up his vote bank as voters here felt cheated when he looked the other way as bulldozers roared here.

Hawa Mahal
7 Surendra Pareek of BJP defeated Brij Kishore Sharma of Congress. He polled 69,924 votes. In 2008 Sharma had created history after winning the Hawa Mahal Assembly seat which was traditionally the RSS and BJP bastion.   However, this time the seat posed a challenge for him since the very beginning. BJP’s bet on former MLA Surendra Pareek proved to be fruitful. In 2008 increase in number of minority voters in the area had benefitted Sharma but this time resentment among the voters and also his own  party workers lead to his downfall. In turn the RSS had put in all its efforts to win back the seat which was its bastion. The Congress faced a challenge as it was finding it difficult to save Sharma’s image and prestige since the begining and this proved a boon for Pareek. Polarisation of votes between minority and majority too helped decide Pareek’s fate. Of the two lakh voters 70,000 are Brahmin-Vaishya. Pareek had the advantage in this RSS stronghold and thus brought back the seat into the BJP kitty.

Malviya Nagar
8 Kalicharan Saraf of BJP defeated Archana Sharma of Congress. He won by 89,974 votes.

Malviya Nagar was thought to be one of the most uncertain constituencies of Jaipur when Congress decided to put its bet on party spokesperson Archana Sharma against BJP’s heavy weight sitting MLA and Raje loyalist Kalicharan Saraf. Both had launched a massive campaign and left no efforts to woo the voters. Saraf has a vast experience as a peoples’ representative who has an impressive report card of achievements and works that he did as a MLA. His robust public image, running movements for public interests and direct communication with electoral, helped him retain the seat and gave him an edge over Sharma. Congress had thought that female factor would work for Archana who was seeking votes on state government’s flagship schemes. She tried to woo the voters by highlighting Saraf’s failure for not solving local issue of water and drainage which seems to have backfired.