The Congress won the local body by-elections in Rajasthan with a comfortable margin beating the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state which goes to polls at the end of the year.
The Congress secured wins in four of the six zila parishad seats, 12 of the 21 panchayat samiti seats and four of the six municipalities in the 21 districts where by-polls were held on 6 March.
पंचायतीराज व स्थानीय निकाय उपचुनाव में कांग्रेस को मिले जनसमर्थन के लिए प्रदेशवासियों का बहुत-बहुत धन्यवाद।
जिला परिषद – 6
कांग्रेस – 4
भाजपा – 1
निर्दलीय – 1
पंचायत समिति : 21 सीट
कांग्रेस – 12
भाजपा – 8
निर्दलीय-1
स्थानीय निकाय:6
कांग्रेस – 4
भाजपा – 2#कांग्रेसमय_राजस्थान— Sachin Pilot (@SachinPilot) March 7, 2018
BJP, on the other hand, could manage to win only one zila parishad, eight panchayat samities, and two municipalities. One zila parishad seat and one panchayat samiti went to independent candidates.
While the Congress wrested two zila parishad seats from the BJP, the saffron party took Jhunjhunu from the Congress. Interestingly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was addressing a rally on International Women’s Day in Jhunjhunu, located 180 km from Jaipur.
The Congress, however, won a municipality seat in Jhunjhunu which was earlier held by an independent. BJP retained both bypoll seats in its bastion Dholpur.
According to reports, Congress won all the panchayat samiti by-poll seats in Bharatpur, Bhilwara, Bikaner, Bundi, Churu, Dausa, Rajsamand, while BJP won all the seats in Chittorgarh, Jodhpur, Nagour, Pratapgarh and Udaipur.
Three candidates of the Congress — two in Bhilwara and one in Bharatpur — were elected unopposed.
In February this year, the Congress had won Ajmer, Alwar and Mandalgarh – three parliamentary seats for which by-polls were held.