Alwar bypolls: Two Independents in fray, may queer pitch for BJP, Congress

For at least one of them, it is the intent and not the result that matters. For the other it is both the intent and the result. They are two independents who have thrown their hat into the ring making the Alwar by-elections more interesting.

Kisan Mahapanchayat president Rampal Jat and Rajasthan Berozgar Ekikrat Mahasangh (association of unemployed) president Upen Yadav will be filing their nominations on January 10.

Jat could make a dent in the vote share of both BJP and Congress as there are about 2 lakh farmers in Alwar constituency that has about 18 lakh eligible voters. Rajasthan has witnessed prolonged farmers’ agitation for the past nine months. While the state government had announced a partial loan waiver in September, farmers are upset that loans have not been formally waived off even more than three months after the announcement.

At a farmers’ meeting held in Jaipur on Sunday, Jat got the support from 45 different farmers unions.

While Yadav has made his intentions of defeating the BJP clear, Jat said that he will be fighting the elections on a positive agenda.

“Our objective is to ensure justice for farmers. I will not indulge in negative campaign, as we have seen that in the past the governments that came to power on negative campaigns did not sustain,” Jat told HT.

Yadav, on the other hand, will be targeting the BJP government. “BJP has done nothing to generate employment. While unemployment is rampant, no new jobs are being created and the existing vacancies in the government are not being filled. The countdown has begun for the BJP government in state,” he said in a Facebook post.

The main fight in the Alwar bypolls is between two qualified doctors – Congress’s Karan Singh Yadav and BJP’s Jaswant Singh Yadav – as both the national parties look to play the caste card in a constituency where Yadavs and Brahmins make up a significant chunk of votes.

Karan Singh Yadav is a former MP from Alwar while Jaswant Singh Yadav is labour minister in Vasundhara Raje cabinet.

The bypoll to the seat was necessitated following the death of BJP MP Chand Nath, who had defeated his Congress rival Jitendra Singh in the 2014 Lok Sabha election by a margin of over 2.8 lakh votes.

The by-elections to Alwar and Ajmer Lok Sabha seats and Mandalgarh Assembly seat will be held on January 29. The last date for filing nominations is January 10. More independent candidates are expected to jump into the fray.