Will Cow and Caste Politics Decide the Fate of Alwar Bypoll?

Can Congress snatch Alwar, Ajmer and Mandalgarh seats from BJP right before Rajasthan Assembly polls?

On 29 January 2018, Alwar and Ajmer will hold a mid-term poll on their Lok Sabha constituency and Mandalgarh for its Assembly seat.

(Photo: Altered By The Quint)

“No hard feelings against Prime Minister Narendra Modi but, we will teach Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje a lesson that she will never forget.” This statement, a sum of local sentiments, is sufficient to summarise the upcoming by-election in Rajasthan’s Alwar.

On 29 January 2018, Alwar and Ajmer will hold a mid-term poll on their Lok Sabha constituency and Mandalgarh for its Assembly seat.

Senior leaders of both Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and Congress have kept a close eye on the development of these elections ahead of Rajasthan’s Assembly polls in December 2018. These three mid-term elections have been deemed crucial in the run up to the Assembly Polls.

Almost a year ago, Alwar made headlines on all the newspapers across the country, for all the wrong reasons. Visuals of Pehlu Khan and Umar Mohammad being lynched by alleged cow vigilantes played on loop across news channels. It was obvious that this incident would have some impact on the bypoll.

When The Quint tried to gage the local sentiments ahead of the poll, they seemed to be upset with Chief Minister Raje. However, interestingly, Prime Minister Modi’s popularity seemed far from being affected.

Vasundhara Raje has done nothing for the public. Hence, we want to vote for Congress to show that how angry the public is. Modi ji is performing well but his subordinates aren’t doing well hence, we will vote for Congress.

Om Prakash, Vegetable vendor to <b>The Quint</b>

Alwar has a total of 18.2 lakh registered voters. Approximately 3.6 lakh of them are Yadavs, 4.5 lakh Dalit, 1.4 lakh Jat, 1.15 lakh Brahmins and 1 lakh Vaishya. Considering this number game, both BJP and Congress have placed their bets on Yadav candidates.

BJP has fielded Basant Singh Yadav, who is a cabinet minister in the Vasundhara Raje government. Congress has awarded its ticket to former MP Dr Karan Singh.

However, a significant chunk of population is made up of Muslim voters. As many as 3.35 lakh registered voters are Muslims. The memory of the murder of Pehlu Khan and Umar Khan are etched in their minds.

No such incident was reported in the past when a person was beaten to death for transporting cows. This has happened under the BJP government’s reign. We will vote for Congress because they will help us.

Rehemuddin, Dhaba Owner

Alwar’s Lok Sabha constituency was vacated after the incumbent BJP MP Mahant Chand Nath passed away. He had defeated Congress leader and former minister in UPA government Bhanwar Jitendra Singh by a massive margin of 2 lakh 83 thousand votes.

(This article was first published on Quint Hindi)

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