Jaipur, Apr 18 (IANS): As voting takes place for 12 Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan on Friday in the first phase of the polls, all eyes are focused on seats like Churu, Dausa, Alwar, Nagaur, Sikar and Bharatpur where the contest is expected to be tough with strong candidates from both the BJP and the Congress in the fray.
What makes the contests more interesting is the fact that prominent leaders from both sides including Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma contesting from his hometown Bharatpur, Union Ministers Arjun Ram Meghwal from Bikaner and Bhupendra Yadav from Alwar, Pradesh Congress Committee chief Govind Singh Dotasra from his home constituency Sikar and Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) supremo Hanuman Beniwal from Nagaur are sweating it out to win these polls.
The sitting MP of the BJP in Churu, Rahul Kaswan, joined the Congress after being denied a ticket and is now fighting on a Congress ticket from Churu.
Kaswan held Rajasthan Leader of the Opposition Rajendra Rathore, the seven-time MLA from Churu, responsible for the denial of ticket. Both of them termed each other "Jaichand", a historical figure known to cheat his own people.
Kaswan will face the BJP’s Devendra Jhajharia here.
Next comes the Chief Minister's hometown, the Bharatpur Lok Sabha seat, where the issue of the Jat reservation has become significant.
Even though the BJP has been winning this seat since the last two elections, the Jat reservation remains a strong issue. Meanwhile, CM Bhajan Lal has promised that they will get the reservation.
This time, the BJP has fielded Ramswaroop Koli against the 25-year-old Congress candidate, Sanjana Jatav.
In Sikar, the Congress has formed an alliance with the CPI (M) and fielded Amra Ram against the BJP’s two-time MP, Sumedhanand Saraswati.
Veteran leaders of the Congress were expecting PCC Chief Dotasra to contest the elections from Sikar, his hometown. However, since Dotasra refused to contest the elections, the seat was shared with the alliance, for which the party was criticised.
If the CPI (M) candidate loses this seat, then Dotasra will have to face the party's ire.
In Nagaur too, there is a tough fight between RLP supremo Hanuman Beniwal, an INDIA bloc candidate and BJP candidate Jyoti Mirdha.
The contest is interesting as Mirdha, in the last Lok Sabha elections, contested on a Congress ticket, and the RLP leader contested as an ally of the BJP. Therefore, it is vice versa in these elections. This time too it is turning out to be a Jat vs. Jat contest.
Mirdha, who joined the BJP just before the Assembly polls, is the granddaughter of veteran Congress leader Nathuram Mirdha.
Former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, in his election meeting in Nagaur on Wednesday, asked the voters to "teach her a lesson".
Alwar is yet another seat witnessing a strong contest between Union Minister Bhupendra Yadav and Congress candidate Lalit Yadav. While Bhupendra, after being fielded for the first time, is seeking votes in the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Lalit Yadav has a huge following among the youth.
Dausa is also under discussion due to the expected close fight as the Congress has fielded former minister Murari Lal Meena against the BJP’s Kanhaiya Lal Meena.
Murari Lal Meena is considered a loyalist of former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot and has a strong following in Dausa. Meanwhile, Cabinet Minister Kirodi Lal Meena is trying to lure the Meena community voters in favour of the BJP candidate.
In 2014, the BJP made a clean sweep of all 25 seats in the state, while in 2019, the BJP-led NDA won all 25 seats, and this time it is going for a hat-trick. The Congress is hoping to open its account as it scored zero in the last two elections.
The first phase of elections will be held in Ganganagar Bikaner, Churu, Jhunjhunu, Sikar, Jaipur Rural, Jaipur, Alwar, Bharatpur, Karauli Dholpur, Dausa and Nagaur on Friday.