With 21 candidates filing their nominations for the Anta Assembly bypoll in Anta of Baran district in Rajasthan, rebels are likely to play spoilsport.
The Congress has fielded local heavyweight Pramod Jain Bhaya, a three-term MLA and former Cabinet minister in the third Ashok Gehlot government (2018-2023). He will be up against BJP’s Morpal Suman, the Pradhan of Baran Panchayat Samiti.
However, rebels may queer the pitch for both the parties. Denied a Congress ticket, Naresh Meena announced his candidature as an Independent and has filed his nomination. This is the third time in three years that Meena has rebelled and jeopardised the Congress’s chances.
In the 2023 Assembly elections, Meena had rebelled and contested from the Chhabra seat, also in Baran district, as an Independent and finished third with about 44,000 votes. The BJP’s Pratap Singh Singhvi won the seat by a slender margin of just over 5,000 votes.
Last year, Meena sought a Congress ticket for the Deoli-Uniara Assembly bypoll in neighbouring Tonk but was turned down again. While BJP’s Rajendra Gurjar managed to win comfortably with 1,00,599 votes, Meena cornered 59,478 votes, pushing the Congress’s Kastoor Chand Meena to the third position.
The BJP too is faced with the prospect of rebels denting its chances. Former BJP MLA Rampal Meghwal has also thrown his hat in the ring, alleging that the party has been ignoring him. In the 2013 Assembly elections, he had defeated the Congress candidate in the Baran-Atru seat with a margin of over 20,000 votes. Meghwal may hurt the prospects of both the Congress and BJP candidates by cornering a section of the SC voters and other communities.
As per the Election Commission, Anta had 2.27 lakh registered voters as of October 1, which included 1.16 lakh males, 1.11 lakh females and four transgenders. The constituency mainly has Mali, SC and Meena voters; while BJP may hope to gain from Mali and Saini community, along with urban voters, the Congress is relying mainly on Meena and SC voters.
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Meanwhile, Bhaya’s wife Urmila Jain has also filed her nomination. She is seen as a backup plan by the Congress, in view of Bhaya’s legal troubles – he has at least eight cases against him – and in case his nomination is rejected on technical grounds.
With the last date for withdrawal of nominations being October 27, both the Congress and BJP still have a week to convince rebels to take back their candidature, though Naresh Meena seems unlikely to relent.
Voting for the Anta bypoll will take place on November 11 from 7 am to 6 pm, results of which will be announced on November 14.
The by-election was necessitated after the disqualification of sitting BJP MLA Kanwarlal Meena in May after he was found guilty under IPC Sections 353 (assault or criminal force to deter a public servant), 506 (criminal intimidation), and the Prevention of Damage to Public Property (PDPP) Act in a 20-year-old case.
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In 2005, demanding a re-poll in a sarpanch election in Manohar Thana, Jhalawar, Meena had threatened then RAS officer Ram Niwas Mehta with a revolver.
