JAIPUR: The municipal elections have barely got over in Rajasthan but the BJP is already turning its attention to the upcoming Panchayati Raj polls. Party President Nitin Nabin will launch its campaign from Dadiya village in Jaipur on Friday, addressing a conference to mark Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay’s birth anniversary and flagging off 90 campaign vehicles.
Newly elected BJP councillors, candidates who contested the municipal elections, district and mandal office-bearers, and party workers are expected to attend the function in large numbers. The party plans to use the event to mobilise its organisation at the panchayat level.
The campaign vehicles will travel across rural Rajasthan, carrying information about central and state government schemes and development projects to gram panchayats and hamlets. The BJP plans to present the work of its governments to rural voters and engage with them ahead of the polls.
Nabin’s Jaipur visit will also include a meeting at the chief minister’s residence with MPs, MLAs, divisional office-bearers and members of the party’s Panchayati Raj election committee. He is scheduled to join a cleanliness drive at Albert Hall at 7.30am and attend a youth dialogue at Birla Auditorium at 5.15pm. Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma and state BJP president Madan Rathore are expected to attend the programmes.
The panchayat elections could prove challenging for the BJP. The difference between the Congress and BJP vote shares in the recent municipal elections was only 0.94 percentage points, even though urban bodies are considered BJP strongholds. The large number of independents who won also pose a challenge for both parties.
The Congress, too, faces a close contest. Despite being in power during the previous Panchayati Raj elections in 2020–21, it won 456 of 1,014 Zila Parishad member seats, compared with the BJP’s 505. Of 6,995 Panchayat Samiti member seats, the Congress won 3,005, the BJP 2,864 and independents 1,125.
The Congress secured 180 of 352 Panchayat Samiti head posts, while the BJP won 140 and independents 32. The supplied figures for district head posts show 17 BJP winners, 13 Congress winners and three independents. The results show how closely the two parties were matched in the last rural polls.