BJP wins Rajasthan panchayat elections amid rich farmers’ protests

After the Bihar Assembly election victory and a solid performance in the GHMC polls, the BJP has won a higher number of seats than the Congress party in the Rajasthan local body polls. Here are the numbers.

About 4,371 Panchayat Samiti seats went to polls. The saffron party bagged 1,835, leaving behind Congress (1,718 seats). As for Zilla Parishad seats, the BJP won 323 seats, while the Congress won 246.

The party sees this as a referendum on the farm laws, against which the rich farmers of Punjab have been protesting. “In the recently concluded local elections in rural Rajasthan, BJP triumphed over the ruling Congress. This is nothing but an endorsement of the new farm laws. Will Congress read the writing on the wall?” tweeted out Amit Malviya, the National Spokesperson of the BJP.

As per several commentators, the performance is all the more significant because Rajasthan is a Congress-ruled State. “Usually, the ruling party has an edge in the local body polls. Not this time around,” a commentator said. Another wrote that the performance of Congress is poor despite Ashok Gehlot being the most astute Congress CM in the country.