Rajasthan Civic Polls: BJP and Congress Move Councillors to Resorts as Independents Hold Sway

Resort politics has returned to Rajasthan as the BJP and the Congress scramble to secure control of municipal corporations, councils and municipalities, where the posts of mayor and chairman are at stake. What has heightened the anxiety in both camps is that the anti-defection law does not extend to local body elections, leaving winning councillors free to switch sides without legal consequence.

The margins are narrow enough that every vote matters. Of the ten municipal corporations, the BJP has secured a majority in Jaipur, Kota, Udaipur and Bhilwara, while the Congress has won a majority in Bikaner and emerged as the single-largest party in Pali and Ajmer. Independents have turned kingmakers in Bharatpur, Jodhpur, Ajmer, Alwar and Pali, with the BJP the single-largest party in Alwar.

The picture is similar in the smaller bodies. Of the 47 municipal councils, the BJP is the clear winner in 13 and the Congress in seven, while the remaining 27 hinge on independents. Among the 252 municipalities, 142 have thrown up no clear majority, leaving independents to decide the outcome. The BJP is the single-largest party in 68 of these towns and the Congress in 42.

The most dramatic movement of councillors has been from Ajmer, where 37 were flown out, reportedly to an undisclosed location in Karnataka, by Congress leader Dharmendra Rathore. The Congress, with 37 seats and the backing of a few independents, is within reach of forming the local government, while the BJP, with 32, is close behind. The Congress needs the support of four independents to elect its mayor, and any erosion of its ranks could hand the BJP an opening.

The BJP has adopted the same approach for its own councillors, with its 78 winners in Jaipur housed in a resort. Although the party is comfortably placed in the city against the Congress's 57, it is not taking the loyalty of its councillors for granted.

The fluidity of local loyalties was on display when Mohammad Raees, an independent councillor from Ward 109, appeared to join the BJP, with photographs of him sharing sweets circulating on social media. A night later, he issued a video statement saying he had changed his mind and was with the Congress, describing the earlier episode as a mistake. Observers noted that the BJP does not need his vote to form the government, but the outreach reflected the parties' reluctance to cede even a single vote.

In Jodhpur, where the BJP won 45 seats to the Congress's 44 and 11 independents held the balance, all the independents extended support to the BJP on Friday morning. Both parties had moved their councillors out of the city as soon as voting ended. BJP councillors are staying at a hotel near the Jain pilgrimage site of Nakoda Ji, where a video showed them singing with Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, while Congress councillors are lodged in a hotel on the city's outskirts.

Former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot accused the BJP of trying to form boards through horse-trading, alleging that Congress councillors were being contacted in Bikaner and that seven had been taken away in Jodhpur with payments of Rs 2 crore per candidate offered. Rajasthan Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasara alleged that police turned up at a resort in Jaisalmer where Bikaner councillors were staying and began counting Congress leaders under the pretext of a search. He said police had visited 20 such locations without valid reason, claiming missing-person complaints had been filed, and called it an assault on democracy.

Home Minister Jawahar Singh Bedam dismissed the allegations as baseless, saying the Congress was disheartened and that people were joining the BJP willingly. He defended police action, asking whether it was not the duty of the police to investigate when a relative files a missing-person report.

Outside the Congress office in Jaipur, relatives of Archana Badgujar, a chairman candidate, alleged that she had contested on a BJP ticket, later joined the opposition and had since gone missing. A relative said the local MLA had taken her away against her will and demanded justice.