Election Results 2019: Rajyavardhan Rathore Wins Jaipur Rural Seat For BJP Again

Rajyavardhan Rathore is a silver-medal winning Olympian and a minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet. He was a BJP parliamentarian from Jaipur Rural and won a second term in the 2019 national election.

The shooting champion was a Colonel in the Indian Army. He took voluntary retirement in 2013 and joined the BJP in 2013.

He made his electoral debut in the 2014 national election and defeated senior Congress leader CP Joshi in Jaipur Rural by a margin of 3.32 lakh votes.

This election, Rajyavardhan Rathore, 49, faces another Olympian in his constituency: Krishna Poonia of the Congress. Ms Poonia, 36, is the first Indian woman track-and-field athlete to win a gold medal at the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games.

Both of them entered politics in the same year - 2013.

Rajyavardhan Rathore, who won a silver medal for India at the 2004 Athens Olympics, won gold at the Commonwealth Games at Manchester in 2002 and Melbourne in 2006. In the four years, he won 25 medals at various international championships.

Along with Kiren Rijiju, the Olympian is known to be the fitness enthusiast in PM Modi's cabinet. His fitness challenge video went viral last year, and was taken up by celebrities, sportsmen and politicians including the Prime Minister.

He relied on votes from the Rajput and Baniya communities to retain his seat, while the Congress hoped to corner ballots from the Muslim and SC/ST communities. He also banked on the Narendra Modi factor and highlighted national security as the key issue in his campaigns.

Jaipur Rural also has a significant Jat population to whom his Congress rival belongs. The community had voted for Mr Rathore and played a key role in deciding the poll outcome.

Mr Rathore, who was born in the desert town of Jaisalmer in Rajasthan, is married to Dr Gayatri Rathore. The couple has a son.