Bypoll Boost For Ashok Gehlot, Congress Wins Tribal-Dominated Dhariawad

In a major boost for Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, the Congress has won the tribal-dominated Dhariawad assembly seat and is leading in Vallabhnagar where the bypolls were held on Saturday.

The bypolls show will mean more leverage for the Chief Minister, who has been under pressure to expand the state cabinet and include members from the Sachin Gehlot camp.

In Dhariawad, the BJP seems to have paid a price for erring in ticket distribution. The party ended at the third spot. 

The seat was vacated after the death of BJP MLA Gautam Meena but instead of going with a sympathy factor and giving the ticket to Mr Gautam's son Kanhiya Lal Meena, the party chose someone from the organisation Khet Singh that has been working in the tribal belt through the Jan Jati Morcha. But clearly that didn't pay off.

Kanhiya Lal Meena, who is the son of the former MLA, filed his nomination as an independent candidate but was persuaded to withdraw his name.

Bypolls were also held in Vallabhnagar. Both assembly constituencies had recorded good polling with 71.72 per cent votes polled in Vallabhnagar and 69.10 per cent votes polled in Dhariawad.

In the house of 200, the ruling Congress has 106 MLAs, while the BJP has 71, Rashtriya Loktantrik Party has three, the CPI(M) and the Bharatiya Tribal Party have two each, the Rashtriya Lok Dal has one and 13 are independent legislators.