Civic Polls
This BJP candidate got just 1 vote in Rajasthan civic polls — and it wasn't even his own!
Jaipur/IBNS: Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged as the largest party in Rajasthan's urban local body elections, a curious result from a ward in Parbatsar municipality in Didwana-Kuchaman district has drawn attention.
According to data available on the website of the Rajasthan State Election Commission, BJP candidate Kailashchand secured just one vote in Ward No. 13, while Congress candidate Hina Khanam polled 376 votes.
Independent candidate Rashid Khan finished second with 195 votes.
BJP candidate's lone vote not his own
What makes the result particularly unusual is that the single vote secured by Kailashchand was apparently not even his own.
Kailashchand claimed that he was registered as a voter in Ward No. 12, meaning he was not eligible to vote for himself in Ward No. 13, where he contested.
The result has consequently become one of the more unusual talking points from Rajasthan's civic election results.
Congress edges BJP in Parbatsar
The overall result in the Parbatsar municipality also went in Congress' favour.
Congress won 13 of the 25 seats, while the BJP secured 12 seats.
The result stands in contrast to the BJP's broader performance across Rajasthan's urban local bodies, where the party emerged as the largest political force.
BJP leads statewide
Across Rajasthan, the BJP won 4,171 of the 10,245 ward seats, compared with 3,597 seats for the Congress.
Independents also performed strongly, winning 2,272 wards.
In terms of vote share, however, the BJP's advantage over Congress was narrow. The BJP secured 35.18% of the votes, compared with 34.24% for Congress — a difference of just 0.94 percentage points.
Not an across-the-board BJP sweep
The results also showed that the BJP's statewide lead did not translate into a sweep across all major urban centres.
In Jodhpur, BJP and Congress won 44 seats each, leaving Independents potentially crucial in determining control of the civic body.
In Bikaner, Congress emerged ahead, while in Pali, Congress won 29 wards compared with the BJP's 21.
The BJP also faced a setback in Bharatpur, considered Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma's home turf. Independents won 36 of the 65 wards, while the BJP secured 20 and Congress seven.
The Parbatsar result, meanwhile, has added an unusual footnote to an election in which the BJP emerged as the largest party but faced a more competitive electoral landscape in several pockets.
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