For BJP, which registered a clear win in the recently concluded Rajasthan urban body elections, the chairperson election result in Mundwa Municipality in Nagaur district came as a rude shock.
The BJP had emerged as the largest party in the 25-ward Mundwa Municipality with 10 councillors. Hanuman Beniwal's Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) won seven seats while Congress won three. Independents won five seats.
However, during the election for the post of chairperson, BJP’s official candidate Geeta Devi won zero votes after all 10 councillors cross-voted. Alka Kandoi, the official candidate of RLP and the Congress, secured 13 votes and was elected as the municipal chairperson. Kandoi is from the RLP.
Interestingly, the BJP votes went to Ghanshyam Sadawat, a BJP rebel candidate and independent. He secured 12 votes. Sadawat contested the chairperson post as an independent after he was passed over in favour of Geeta Devi.
The main reason for this political upheaval at the local level is believed to be internal factionalism. Sadawat is a close aide of BJP State Vice President Dr. Jyoti Mirdha.
Sadawat, on being denied a ticket for the election of chairperson, filed an independent nomination. Gaining the support of ten 10 councillors, he defied the party whip. The rebellion was so well planned that 10 BJP councillors too defied the party whip and voted unanimously in favour of rebel Ghanshyam Sadawat.
Sensing the opportunity, the RLP and the Congress joined forces, a strategy that helped them win the post by a lead of one vote.
However, the BJP managed to elect mayors in six of the seven municipal corporations it won in Rajasthan. The Congress managed to elect its mayor only in Bikaner. Despite being ahead in Ajmer and Pali, Congress could not elect its own mayor in either city. BJP won both mayoral elections.
Results for 301 civic bodies in Rajasthan have been declared so far. Of these, BJP candidates have become heads of 197 bodies, Congress candidates in 94, Independents in seven, while one each from AAP, CPM and RLP have become civic-body heads.
