Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot has accused the BJP Union ministers of spreading lies regarding performance of the Congress in rural local body elections to discredit the ongoing farmers’ protests at Delhi borders on the directions of saffron party high command.
“The BJP is displaying these results as its big victory, which is proven wrong in the analysis of data,” the CM said in a statement.
He said the Congress got higher vote share than the BJP in the elections held on 222 Panchayat Samitis in 21 districts, whose results were announced on Wednesday. The Congress got 40.87% votes, while the BJP got 40.58% votes– 0.29 percentage points less than the Congress.
In the 222 Panchayat Samitis, Congress and BJP won 98 chairperson posts each and 26 went to independents and other parties. In 2015, on these Panchayat Samitis, the BJP had won 112 and the Congress had 67. The number of chairperson posts with the Congress has increased by 31, while the BJP’s numbers have reduced by 14, he said.
In 21 district council or Zila Parishad posts, the BJP had received 48.87% votes in 2015 which has come down to 43.81% votes this year, a fall of 5 percentage points. Congress has got 42.76% votes, which is just 1.05 percentage points less than the BJP. In 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP’s vote share in these districts was 61.05% of the votes polled, which Gehlot said had come down by 18 percentage points. In 2015, the BJP had won 14 district council heads in these 21 districts, which has come down to 13 now, he added.
“The entire focus of the state government was on containing the pandemic and therefore did not send state and central level leaders to campaign in these elections to avoid gathering of crowds and curb the spread of infection. The BJP Union ministers such as Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Kailash Chaudhary and Arjun Meghwal along with state leaders such as leader of opposition Gulab Chand Kataria and his deputy Rajendra Rathore campaigned and violated corona guidelines,” he said.
When 2,500 people and two MLAs of the state have lost their lives due to Corona, it is our responsibility to take the infection seriously but the BJP leaders did not, the CM said, alleging that in order to win the elections, BJP leaders presented the wrong example of breaking the corona protocol in front of the common man.
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“The BJP is misleading the media over the election results and trying to create an illusion as if the Congress has been wiped out. The farmers of Rajasthan have supported the farmers’ movement by giving the BJP 18% less votes in 18 months. The farmers of Rajasthan are completely against the new farm laws, and have voted against the BJP,” the CM said.
BJP spokesperson Mukesh Pareek said the CM was presenting wrong facts and figures to hide Congress party’s alleged failures. “It is clear that the BJP has won 13 Zila chairperson posts and we will win Jhalawar also, whose result is pending,” Pareek said.
He claimed that despite being in the government and misusing the government machinery, the Congress lost in rural areas, which the party claimed to be their stronghold.
“Leaders of BJP and Congress campaigned in the election and maintained social distancing but levelling charges against the BJP is unfortunate,” he said.
