Rajasthan Elections: The Importance Of Independent Candidates For Ashok Gehlot’s Government And Why The BJP And Congress Appreciate Them

The agenda of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has been significantly aided by the Independent MLAs in the Rajasthan legislature during the last five years. Ten of the thirteen Independents gave Gehlot two votes each. Initially, their backing strengthened his argument for the chief minister position relative to Sachin Pilot’s. Second, in 2020, the MLAs guided him through Pilot’s insurrection. Once again, the Independents are expected to play a significant role, and the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are actively pursuing their inclusion.

The Independent candidates will be important for the BJP and the Congress when Rajasthan goes to elections on November 25 since they may provide one of these parties an advantage when the government is formed. This time around, the majority of the independent candidates are dissidents from the Congress and BJP who are running on their own after their parties refused to give them tickets.

Most BJP rebels are supporters of Vasundhara Raje.
The majority of the 30 well-known Independent candidates are BJP dissidents. The majority of them are supporters of previous chief minister Vasundhara Raje, to whom the party refused to provide tickets. For example, this time around Younus Khan, a former cabinet member close to Raje, was not given a ticket. The BJP exclusively fielded Younus as a Muslim candidate in the 2018 assembly elections. He did not, however, win the Tonk constituency elections, which Pilot won by a margin of 50,000 votes.

Younus had no choice except to run alone in 2023 after requesting a ticket from his home constituency of Deedwana and being refused.

Former Union Minister and Assembly Speaker Kailash Meghwal, another Raje partisan, is running as an independent after spotting a ticket to run in the Shahpura Assembly seat. Because Kailash, 89, entered the race as an Independent, he was kicked out of the BJP’s core membership. He was a part of the celebration one month before. Following his accusations of corruption against Union minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, he was removed. He was defeated by Shahpura in 2018.

Another close aide of Raje, Rajpal Singh Shekhawat, is a former cabinet minister who was also turned down for a ticket from the Jhotwara seat. He had previously announced his candidacy as an independent but then withdrew it. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, a current member of parliament, has been nominated by the saffron party to represent Jhotwara. The BJP is up against a similar opponent in Sawai Madhopur, where Rajya Sabha MP Kirori Lal Meena is running against BJP rebel Asha Meena.

Narpat Singh Rajvi, the BJP’s nominee, has additional challenges in the Chittorgarh seat since Chandrakumar Singh Akkya, a former sitting MLA, is running as an independent. Akaya was a sitting BJP MLA from the Chittorgarh seat, whereas Singh was a serving MLA from the Vidhyadhar Nagar constituency in Jaipur. This time, BJP MP Diya Kumari took Singh’s position.

Congress rebels
It is inevitable to manage the influence of the loyalists in the Congress camp as well. Virendra Beniwal, a Lunkaransar native and former two-time Congress MLA, was not given a ticket by the Congress organization. In 2013 and 2018, he had lost the popular vote. Kailash Meena, an independent candidate from the Manohar seat, has run unsuccessfully for office in 2013 and 2018 on a Congress platform. Rakesh Boyat, a dissident from Congress, is running as an independent from the Keshoraipatan district.

It is important to note that Gehlot supporters are competing against official party candidates on the list of possible independent MLAs. Manvendra Singh, the son of former Union Minister Jaswant Singh, is running against Sunil Parihar, an independent who is said to be close to the chief minister, in the Siwana seat. Similarly, Gehlot Rameshwar Dadhich’s close aide and former mayor of Jodhpur, who left the Congress when the party refused to provide him a ticket, joined the BJP.

Approximately twenty Congress dissidents are openly contesting the official candidates. Everyone is watching Sheo’s seat in Barmer. The race between independent candidates Ravindra Bhati and Congress dissident Fathe Khanis and Rajasthan’s oldest contender, 84-year-old Congress MLA Ameen Khan, a five-time MLA, has grown quite competitive. In place of Khuman Singh, who was defeated by Khan in the 2018 Assembly elections, the BJP has nominated Swaroop Singh Khara.

Even though the Congress and the BJP are doing all in their power to win the election, neither party can discount the importance of the independent candidates. Election results in Rajasthan will be made public on December 3rd, after the votes on November 25.