Rajasthan civic poll results: Vasundhara Raje government faces litmus test

Pegging its hopes on increasing the party’s vote share in the state, the Opposition Congress kept up a sustained campaign against Raje over the past few months as she got embroiled in the Lalit Modi controversy.

While Congress leaders maintained that the high turnout (76.05 per cent) for the polls to the 129 civic bodies on Monday was indicative of the negativity among voters towards the ruling government, the BJP camp said it was confident of yet another thumping victory.

“People have voted against the state government’s wrongdoings since it came to power and this will go in favour of the Congress. Voters have given up on the BJP for its anti-people decisions and policies and it is set to cost them heavily,” said Pradesh Congress Committee chief Sachin Pilot, who held whirlwind tours across the state with senior party leaders.

[related-post]

The BJP will be on the backfoot again after the results, Pilot further said, adding that though Lalitgate was a national issue, it would surely have a bearing on the poll outcome.

BJP state unit chief Ashok Parnami maintained that the high turnout indicated an endorsement of the development work done by the Raje government.

The results will decide the fate of 10,582 candidates who contested for 3,306 councillor posts in 129 municipal bodies. Of this, 45 councillors have already been declared uncontested winners after the withdrawal process earlier this month.

The election of the chairpersons in 129 civic bodies, including Ajmer Municipal Corporation, is scheduled for August 21 in which all 3,351 councillors will vote and the election of deputy chairpersons will be held on August 22.

The counting is slated to begin at 8 am on Thursday.

The state government introduced minimum educational qualifications of Class X pass and made it mandatory to have a toilet to contest the municipal polls this time.