Jaipur : One of the five assembly seats in Rajasthan where by-elections are to be held in the next few months is the Deoli-Uniyara assembly seat of Tonk district, Sachin Pilot’s stronghold. This seat has fallen vacant after Harish Meena, the MLA from here, became an MP. Congress leader Sachin Pilot has claimed victory on this seat and said that we will field better candidates and win the by-elections here. In view of the elections, BJP and Congress have formed election committees and started implementing the election preparations. Along with this, the race to get tickets has started among the leaders from Delhi to Jaipur. Many big names of both the parties are included in these potential candidates. In the assembly elections held in 2023, Congress’s Harish Chandra Meena won the second consecutive election on this seat by defeating BJP’s Vijay Bainsla by 19 thousand 175 votes.
potential congress candidate
For the by-election on the Deoli-Uniyara seat, the name of former MLA Ram Narayan Meena is emerging as a potential candidate from the Congress. Ram Narayan has been an MLA from this seat from 2008 to 2013. Dheeraj Gurjar, who is considered close to Priyanka Gandhi, is also in the race for candidates. The name that can surprise from the Congress on this seat is Prahlad Gunjal. Congress can surprise everyone by making Prahlad Gunjal a candidate on this seat. Gunjal had left the BJP and joined the Congress before the Lok Sabha elections. In the recently held Lok Sabha elections, he gave a tough fight to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on the Kota parliamentary seat.
Gunjal belongs to the Gujjar community and has a strong influence in this community. In such a situation, Congress can make a big move by making him a candidate on this Gujjar dominated seat.
BJP’s potential candidates
From the BJP side, the names of Rajendra Gurjar, who was an MLA from this seat from 2013 to 2018, and Vijay Bainsala, who was the BJP candidate in the 2023 assembly elections, are prominently in discussion. Apart from these, Alka Gurjar, Vikram Singh Gurjar, Sitaram Poswal and minister Prabhulal Saini are also in the race for the ticket.
Both the parties formed committees for the by-election
For the by-election, Congress has formed a four-member committee for the Deoli-Uniyara seat, including Harish Meena, Prashant Sharma, Vikas Chaudhary, Hari Prasad Bairwa and Tonk Congress District President. Whereas BJP has formed a four-member committee of senior leaders Rajendra Rathore, Hiralal Nagar, Jitendra Gothwal and Omprakash Bhadana.
Impact of caste politics
Political issues are absent in this area. The electoral history of this seat has been that elections are fought on caste basis. While BJP bets on Gujjar candidates, Congress has been choosing Meena caste candidates. So far, independents and other political parties have never had any special influence on this seat. Only rebel candidates of BJP and Congress have been influencing the electoral equations to some extent.
