Author: Lokpal Sethi/ Jaipur
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: November 28, 2004
The Resounding victory of the BJP
in the civic polls has clearly established the party's supremacy
over the Congress in Rajasthan, three times in less than an year.
It has captured as many as 33 of
the 45 civic bodies, leaving only 11 for the Congress and one for
the independents. These include Municipal Corporation of Jaipur and
Kota. Congress had to contend with retaining their hold over Municipal
Corporation of Jodhpur.
In the last civic elections, which
were held five years ago during the Congress regime, the BJP had
gained 17 seats, whereas the Congress was able to win 25 of them.
The result of these elections has
negated the claims of the Congress and rumours within the party that
the BJP Government in the State was losing its popularity even before
one year of its coming to power.
This has also exposed the Congress,
which refused to learn a lesson from its past defeats - first in
the Assembly election around this time last year and second after
its defeat in the Lok Sabha elections this year.
If the ruling BJP has once again
successfully projected itself as a cohesive unit and achieved complete
coordination with the Government and the organisation, in these elections,
the factional fight in the Congress continues to be the order of
the day, which has cost the party heavily in these elections as well.
The BJP as the Opposition contested
the Assembly elections on the strength of its organisation and under
the leadership of Vasundhara Raje. The party outwitted the Congress in
the Lok Sabha elections on the basis of the achievements of its five-month-old
Government in the State.
The victory in the civic polls could
be considered as the electorates' final stamp on the good work done
by the BJP Government during its one-year rule in the State.
The victory of the Congress in the
elections of Jodhpur Municipal Corporation could be solely attributed
to former Chief Minister and AICC General Secretary Ashok Gehlot.
He camped in his home town for days to ensure the party's victory. The
victory of the party will silence Mr Gehlot's detractors within the
party, who had marginalised his contribution in the state politics,
after the party's defeat in the Assembly as well as the Lok Sabha elections.
The BJP has emerged as the single
largest party in ten Municipal bodies, in comparison to the Congress
which got only five.
Of the total 1450 seats BJP has
won in 638 wards, where as Congress candidates have won 494 seats.
The total number of independents is 318. In the last elections of these
bodies, the BJP had got 544 seats compared to the 531 that the then
ruling Congress got. The independents were 363.
