DHOLPUR/JAIPUR: The BJP today won Dholpur assembly by-election, with its candidate Shobha Rani Kushwah defeating her nearest rival of Congress Banwari Lal Sharma with a record margin of 38,678 votes.
With this win, the BJP's tally increased to 161 in the Assembly of 200.
Shobha Rani got 91,548 votes against Congress candidate Sharma’s 52875 votes, scoring a vote percentage of 62.15.
In the 2013 assembly polls, the seat had been bagged by Shobha Rani's husband B L Kushwah, who had contested on a BSP ticket.
He had won despite the Modi wave and the BJP then came third.
This time, the BJP fieled Shobha Rani.
The by-poll was necessitated as B L Kushwah had lost his membership of the Assembly after he was convicted and awarded life imprisonment in a murder case in December last year.
The BJP termed the win as the victory of development agenda while the Congress accused the BJP of openly misusing the government machinery and threatening officials to win the by-election.
Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje said the victory with such a huge margin had not been witnessed in 30 years.
She congratulated the party workers, saying it was the victory of the Dholpur’s people.
She said Dholpur’s people are a family and the victory belongs to the ‘family’.
“People from all castes voted for the development and rejected the caste politics,” Raje told reporters.
The result has no impact on the government's overall stability but the by-election held ahead of the 2018 assembly polls was a test for the Chief Minister as Dholpur is her home ground.
“We contested the election on the development agenda and the result shows that he people have expressed confidence and faith in the leadership of Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and rejected the caste politics,” BJP state president Ashok Parnami said.
Congratulating the party workers on the victory, Parnami said it was the BJP government which carried out the development in Dholpur and that all the promises made by the party to the people of Dholpur will be fulfilled in next one year.
On the other hand, Congress accused the BJP of misusing the government machinery to win the elections anyhow.
"The BJP has won just one seat and it does not mean that it will repeat the victory in the 2018 assembly elections," state Congress President Sachin Pilot said.
“In the democracy, we respect the mandate of the people. It was the election of management and resources. The BJP fully misused the government machinery," he said.
Pilot added, "If the BJP was so sure of the government’s three years of work, why then did the Chief Minister have to stay there even after the campaigning period was over?"
He said, “Raje stayed in Dholpur despite the campaigning period getting over. Voters were threatened and influenced by the BJP."
However, on question of EVM machines with paper trail, he said it is transparent and the Election Commission conducts free and fair polls.
He alleged that B L Kushwah, who had won from the constituency in the 2013 assembly elections, was "trying to influence voters from the jail" and Congress complained to the Election Commission, following which he was shifted to Sriganganagar jail from Dholpur.
Incidently, Banwari Lal Sharma, who lost to Shobha Rani, had earlier been defeated by B L Kushwah in the last elections.