The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has started a new political chapter in Rajasthan with a victory in the Baran Municipal Council elections, winning 31 of the 60 seats and ending the BJP and Congress era in the civic body.
The results, announced on Monday, saw the AAP emerge as the single-largest force in the council, with the Congress winning 18 seats and the BJP nine. Independent candidates won the remaining two seats.
The result is significant for the AAP’s broader Rajasthan plans. Devendra Shastri, the party’s Rajasthan election in-charge, said 42 of the 299 candidates that the AAP fielded had won.
“The next target is to do well in the panchayat polls. Though these are not fought on party symbols, the AAP will also field candidates in the zilla parishad polls, which are fought on party symbols. We will also contest the sarpanch polls,” Shastri said.
“Our strategy in the civic polls has worked. We focused on development on the principles of Arvind Kejriwal. We won 31 seats in Baran, one in Jhalawar, five in Pidawa and five in Jhalrapatan. We worked extensively during the campaign. People want a change and, as a third front, it is our responsibility to fulfil their expectations,” he added.
The party’s Baran campaign also focused on bringing younger candidates into local politics. Kamal Rathore, one of the councillors elected who was also in charge of the Baran civic polls, ensured that the AAP candidates fielded were below 45 years of age, with the party seeking to project them as a younger alternative to the BJP and Congress, party insiders said.
The fulcrum of victory
Rathore was central to the AAP’s march to victory. With the results giving his party a majority, Rathore and the newly elected AAP councillors are currently staying at a resort outside Baran until the election of the council chairperson is completed.
The move, according to sources, is aimed at preventing the newly elected councillors from being approached by rival parties.
Rathore’s political career in Baran predates his association with the AAP. According to local sources, he began as a member of the ABVP, the RSS-affiliated student body and later contested as a Congress councillor. Between 2018 and 2020, he served as acting chairperson of the Municipal Council after the then chairperson Prem Chand Sankhla died.
“From 2018 to 2020, Rathore worked extensively on the development of the city, particularly sanitation and sewerage. People were impressed with his work and his supporters grew,” said a local businessman, who did not wish to be named.
Rathore was later removed from the position and spent several months in jail following a dispute with local Congress leader Pramod Jain Bhaya, according to the businessman.
The resentment against the BJP and Congress, which have dominated Baran politics for decades, appears to have also played a role in the AAP’s performance, local residents and party workers said.
“The BJP and Congress have been in the city for more than 30 years. People were fed up with them. There was a feeling among people that if Kamal had been in power, the situation regarding civic amenities would have been different,” the businessman said.
According to him, Rathore’s campaign after joining the AAP focused on his earlier work rather than a conventional party campaign. He would go door to door carrying a broom, the AAP’s election symbol, but without party flags or banners, and spoke about the changes he had sought to bring to the city during his earlier tenure.
Rathore, after the results, said the mandate reflected people’s desire for a change in Baran’s politics. “People of the city have proved that they want development in their wards, which is why our candidates have secured a majority. We will form the board and bring an end to the corrupt system of the bigger parties,” he told reporters.
According to party sources, Congress is preparing to take disciplinary action against councillors who won on the party symbol but voted for BJP candidates in the mayor and chairman elections held in 309 urban local bodies.(Source: ANI ) 
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