Rajasthan elections: Drinking water crisis, poor road conditions major issues in Nagar constituency
The constituency, with 233 polling stations also comprises 248,395 voters, of which 132,534 are men and 115,861 women. Around 11,814 fresh voters are set to cast their votes this election from Nagar
On the equidistant between Bharatpur and Alwar, Deeg’s Nagar is known for its Jaleba sweet and a special fair for Ram Navami held over a week where every day locals organise some nautanki and kavi sammelan.
Nagar, which was earlier a part of Bharatpur, was later merged into the new Deeg district following the Ramlubhaya committee’s delimitation recommendations that came into effect on August 4. However, since the election commission didn’t recognise the new districts yet, the constituency is considered under Bharatpur district in the upcoming state assembly elections due on November 25.
The constituency, with 233 polling stations also comprises 248,395 voters, of which 132,534 are men and 115,861 women. Around 11,814 fresh voters are also set to cast their votes this election from Nagar.
Considered to be a Muslim-dominated constituency, Nagar has a majority of 50,000 minority population, followed by 46,000 Gurjars and 40,000 Jats.
Since its formation in 1977 delimitation, Nagar witnessed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) winning four times while Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) each bagged the seat twice. The Rashtriya Lok Dal (LKD) and Janata Dal (JD) also won the constituency once each.
However, a surprise result was witnessed in Nagar in 2018 when the major parties in the state -- BJP and Congress -- finished at the third and fourth positions ,while BSP bagged the seat with the Samajwadi Party as runner-up.
The incumbent MLA Wajib Ali first contested from the seat in 2013 as a candidate of the National People’s Party but lost to BJP’s Anita Singh by 6% votes.
In 2018, he was one of those six BSP MLAs who won the seat with a 15% vote margin but later joined the Congress which formed the government. Ali was fielded by the Congress from Nagar for the November 25 polls.
Ali’s current opposition, Nem Singh Foujdar, who fought the last two elections with the SP ticket, first contested as a candidate of the Rajasthan Vikas Party (RJVP) in 2008. After his consecutive defeats with SP ticket, he joined the BJP in 2018 and was appointed as the state spokesperson of the party’s farmers’ unit.
However, Foujdar is all set to fight the Nagar battle as a candidate of Azad Samaj Party this time after being denied a ticket from the BJP.
Meanwhile, Anita Singh, who remained a two-time BJP MLA from the seat, also declared to contest the election as an independent candidate when the party fielded its Kaman MLA Jawahar Singh Bedam from Nagar.
Despite being such an old constituency, Nagar is now marred by a severe drinking water crisis and poor road conditions.
A long-time resident of the constituency, Dharamveer Singh, said, “There is almost no source of drinking water in Nagaur. Most of the old wells are dried up. The are neither fixed nor the government set up new wells. People, particularly women, are supposed to travel miles to get water for households.”
Singh also said, “The roads are also majorly damaged in the constituency which are never repaired by the administration despite approaching them several times. Travelling on these roads gets more difficult in the monsoon.”
Alleging negligence to the lower caste localities on development, ASP’s Nemi Singh said, “I don’t see the areas belonging to upper castes, such as Jats and Gurjars, are struggling with such issues - poor roads, lack of electricity, and water crisis. These issues only prevail in the areas of lower-caste communities.”
He added: “The corruption and deteriorating law and order situation increased in the last five years in Nagar as the MLA’s family members are largely involved in online scams, cow smuggling, and employing government servants by taking bribes.”
Commenting on the development of the constituency, MLA Ali said, “The Congress government has ensured a series of developments in the area while it was a backward one during the BJP’s ten years (under Anita Singh’s tenure).”
“Many schools and colleges were set up to encourage education. The number of primary and community health centres also increased while many PHCs were also promoted to CHCs with advanced infrastructure,” said the MLA.