Congress says Dalit backlash over Mallikarjun Kharge purification row helped it in Rajasthan polls

Rajasthan Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra interacts with the media in Jaipur on Monday. (Express photo by Rohit Jain Paras)

The Congress claimed that it won more reserved seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes than the BJP in the results for urban local bodies declared Monday, saying that BJP paid the price for “insulting” party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, a Dalit, with a purification ceremony in Haldwani last month.

Talking to the media, Congress state president Govind Singh Dotasra said, “Their attitude has been to change and destroy the Constitution. And the way they insulted Kharge ji and Dalits led to a difference (in results).”

“Of the wards reserved for SCs, Congress won 542 against BJP’s 350, or 192 more SC reserved wards than BJP. Among seats reserved for SC women, Congress won 261 against BJP’s 186, or 75 more than BJP. As for ST seats, Congress won 53 against BJP’s 39,” Dotasra said.

He said that the Dalit community has responded to the BJP which consistently spoke against the Constitution and reservation, and subjected Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge to humiliating treatment in Uttarakhand, including calls for the ‘purification’ of the venue after his meeting, by defeating the BJP and voting in favour of the Congress.

Last week, police in Uttarakhand’s Haldwani registered an FIR against “unknown” persons over the alleged “purification” of the city’s Ramlila Maidan following a rally last month by Kharge.

The controversy had erupted two days after Kharge’s August 8 rally at the Ramlila Maidan, when the Shri Ram Sena Dharmarth Seva Nyas conducted a “purification” ritual at the ground.

‘Illegal delimitation’

“The results today show a mirror to the BJP as in urban local body polls, BJP is considered to have an upper hand. And the trend has always been that local body polls go more in favour of the ruling party,” Dotasra said, claiming just 1 per cent difference in vote share between the two parties.

Story continues below this ad

Terming the delimitation as illegal and against the rules, he said that some bodies have 4,000 voters in a ward and 35,000 in others. “In smaller local bodies, some wards have 600 votes, while others have 3,000 voters. The result is that of the 4,097 wards won by the BJP, the margin of victory is less than 100 votes in 1,316 wards, and the BJP’s margin of victory is less than 50 votes in 772 wards. Similarly, in 13 wards, the BJP managed to win by a mere 1 vote, which is solely due to the dishonest and illegal delimitation, otherwise the BJP would have certainly lost the elections in all these wards,” he said.

He also said that the Congress Party had requested a recount in 1,316 wards, alleging “that the results were forcibly withheld in those wards where the Congress candidate was ahead by a margin of 200-300 votes, so that an atmosphere could be created in favour of the BJP and the Chief Minister.”

He also claimed that in Jodhpur, the Congress received 42.7 per cent of the vote against BJP’s 39.8 per cent but BJP won 44 against Congress’s 45 wards. Similarly in Jaipur, he said that the Congress had over 10,000 more votes than the BJP but won in fewer wards, citing the “arbitrary delimitation” of wards such as ward number 31 with 13,499 voters and ward 135 with 32,272 voters.

“During the Vasundhara Raje government’s tenure in the state, the BJP’s vote share was 8.12 per cent more than Congress (in ULB polls) while during Ashok Gehlot government’s tenure, the Congress’s lead over the BJP was 2.2 percent. However, this election’s results show that the BJP’s lead over the Congress has shrunk to just 1 per cent,” he said, adding that this shows that “the BJP has been rejected by the public.”

Story continues below this ad

He said that in the 2023 assembly polls, the BJP’s vote share in these 188 Assembly constituencies was 42.41 percent, which increased to 50.14 in the Parliamentary polls, “However, due to the BJP government’s misgovernance, the vote share fell to 35.3 per cent in these elections.”

Hamza Khan is a seasoned Correspondent for The Indian Express, specifically reporting from the diverse and politically dynamic state of Rajasthan. Based in Jaipur, he provides high-authority coverage on the state's governance, legal landscape, and social issues, directly supporting the "Journalism of Courage" ethos of the publication. Expertise Politics & Governance: Comprehensive tracking of the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly, including policy changes (e.g., the Right to Health Bill and Anti-Mob Lynching Bills), bypoll dynamics, and the shifting power structures between the BJP and Congress. ... Read More