Rajasthan: Setback for BJP, Congress wins majority of seats in civic bypolls

JAIPUR: Close on the heels of an improved performance in Gujarat, the Congress today won all the four zila parishad seats and also 16 of the 27 panchayat samiti seats and six Nagar Palika seats, for which bypolls were held. The ruling BJP had to remain content with 10 panchayat samiti seats although it won seven nagar palika wards. The saffron party could not even retain even a single of the four zila parishad seats that it held, according to the State Election Commission. The bypolls for 27 panchayat samitis of 19 districts, 14 nagar palikas of 12 districts and four zila parishads were held on December 17. "The results of the local bodies bypoll has proved that the countdown for the BJP in Rajasthan has begun. Congress has expressed the feelings of the people in the last four years and they have trust in the party," Congress state president Sachin Pilot said. He predicted a similar result in the upcoming bypolls for the two parliamentary seats of Alwar and Ajmer and Mandalgarh Assembly seat. Bypolls on all the three seats have been necessitated due to sudden demise of two of the ruling BJP's parliamentarians and a BJP legislator. The civic by-election results are a setback for the BJP as it lost two nagar palika wards in Baran district, which is a strong hold of Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje's MP son Dushyant Singh. However, state BJP spokesperson, Anand Sharma said that the result was good for the party as it has grabbed several seats earlier held by the Congress. In August, opposition Congress had won 19 out of the total 37 seats in bypolls to urban local bodies and panchayati raj institutions while the ruling BJP had got ten.