Rajasthan local body polls: BJP edges past Congress with more wins

In Rajasthan local body polls,  the Bharatiya Janata Party is moving towards a resounding victory. Elections were held at a total of 309 places in Rajasthan, including 10 municipal corporations, 47 municipal councils and 252 municipalities. At present, Congress is leading in only one of the 10 municipal corporations, while in all the remaining municipal corporations.
According to party spokesperson, Sudhanshu Trivedi the Bharatiya Janata Party is in a position to form the government along with its allies in Rajasthan. "It has becomes clear that even in those places where, last time, in the six districts—Bundi, Dausa, Hanumangarh, Karauli, Dholpur and Bharatpur—not even a single BJP board could be formed in any local body, this time the BJP is making impressive progress in these districts as well," he said.
According to news agency report,the ruling BJP increased its lead over the Congress in the Rajasthan urban local body elections on Monday, winning 3,587 wards against the opposition party’s 3,050 as results for more than 8,700 wards were declared. The BJP secured a clear majority in the 80-member Udaipur Municipal Corporation by winning 53 wards. The Congress won 23, Independents three, and the CPI(M) one. The Congress emerged victorious in Ajmer and Pali.
Bharatpur threw up an anomalous picture as Independents won or led in 36 of its 65 wards, compared to the BJP’s 20 and Congress’s seven. The BSP and RLP won one each. Bharatpur is Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma’s hometown. In Ajmer, of its 80 wards, Congress won 37, BJP 32, and Independents 11. In the 65-ward Pali Nagar Nigam, Congress won 29, while BJP won 21 and Independents won 15. Pali is the hometown of BJP state president Madan Rathore.
Independents put up a strong performance across the state, winning 2,024 wards, emerging as a potentially decisive force in several urban bodies. Of the 10,244 wards for which counting was held, results for 8,787 were declared till 2.15 pm. In all, the BJP won 3,587 wards, Congress 3,050, Independents 2,024, Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) 56, CPI(M) 37, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) 15, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) 10 and Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) eight. Polling for the 309 urban local bodies happened in two phases on September 9 and 11.