Rajasthan bye-elections: Congress won in every Assembly segment of Ajmer, Alwar Lok Sabha seats

Ajmer and Alwar Lok Sabha seats have eight Vidhan Sabha segments each, and along with Mandalgarh Assembly seat, make for 17 out of 200 Assembly seats in Rajasthan, representing 8.5 per cent of the Assembly.

The results are a major setback for BJP as 15 out of the 17 seats were won by BJP in the 2013 Assembly poll. Three of these 15 seats are held by BJP ministers: Vasudev Devnani (Ajmer North), Anita Bhadel (Ajmer South), and Dr Jaswant Singh Yadav (Behror), who was also the party’s candidate for Alwar Lok Sabha seat. Both Ajmer North and Ajmer South were considered BJP strongholds. The data indicates that urban vote, generally held by the BJP, also shifted towards the Congress.

The BJP lost Ajmer North by 6,975 votes, Ajmer South by 13,070 votes. In Behror, Yadav lost in his own Assembly seat by a 21,826 votes.

In Ajmer, the biggest margin in an assembly seat was in Kekri, where the Congress defeated BJP by 34,790 votes. It is currently held by BJP MLA Shatrughan Gautam. While the average difference in Ajmer’s assembly segments between Congress and BJP was over 10,000 votes, things were worse for BJP in Alwar, where the average margin was about 25,000 votes.