Bhajanlal, Vasundhara, Gehlot face test of influence in Anta bypoll; campaign to end today

Jaipur, Nov 9 (PTI) Campaigning for the Anta assembly bypoll in Rajasthan's Baran district will close on Sunday evening, marking the end of a spirited contest between the ruling BJP, the opposition Congress, and an Independent candidate.

What began as a routine by-election has now become a prestige test for Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma and former CMs Vasundhara Raje and Ashok Gehlot.

Polling will be held on November 11 and the results will be declared on November 14. The seat fell vacant after BJP MLA Kanwarlal Meena was disqualified after he was convicted for pointing a pistol at a sub-divisional magistrate (SDM).

The BJP has fielded local leader Morpal Suman, said to be Raje's choice, while the Congress has put its faith in Pramod Jain Bhaya, a two-time MLA, a former minister and a Gehlot loyalist. Independent Naresh Meena, who earlier sought a BJP ticket, has complicated the arithmetic, turning the contest triangular.

For the BJP, the bypoll doubles as a test of internal unity. On Thursday, Sharma and Raje held a joint roadshow in Anta, a rare show of solidarity seen as an attempt to project cohesion amid persistent talks of factionalism within the party.

Party leaders said Suman's candidature reflected a consensus between the chief minister and Raje.

Raje said the contest was a battle between people's power and money power."One side has the tens of crores, the other side has people's strength. We are with the people and the money-power will lose," she said.

Senior Congress leader Gehlot, who has personally campaigned for Bhaya, has framed the contest around welfare and keeping trust among locals. "This is not just an election. It is about continuing the work that brought relief to people," he told a gathering in Baran.

Independent candidate Naresh Meena, a known face among the region's sizable Meena community, has emerged as a wild card. Meena's growing traction among tribal and OBC voters could hurt both the BJP and Congress. Several local sarpanches and youth leaders have rallied behind him, lending grassroots heft to his campaign.

The Anta constituency, part of the politically volatile Hadoti belt -- a region long considered Raje's turf -- has a history of swinging between the two major parties. BJP held it in 2013 and 2023, while Bhaya won it for Congress in 2008 and 2018.

Locals said that caste equations, development issues, and the government's image at the state level were shaping voter sentiment this time.

District Election Officer Rohitash Singh Tomar said all polling arrangements are in place, with paramilitary deployment at sensitive booths. "We are ensuring peaceful, free and fair polling," he said.

The bypoll is also Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma's first real electoral test since assuming office.

For the Congress, the election is equally crucial. A victory for Bhaya would signal continued faith in Gehlot's welfare-driven politics and help revive the party's morale after its defeat in the last assembly polls.

Independent candidate Meena's performance, meanwhile, will indicate the growing clout of regional independents and caste-based mobilisation that could shape future contests in Rajasthan.

The results on November 14 will reveal more than who wins Anta -- they may offer an early indicator of Rajasthan's shifting political currents ahead of the local body polls in the state. PTI AG SKY SKY