Dungarpur bypoll a prestige issue for BJP, Cong

Jaipur, Dec 1 (UNI) With the Dungarpur bypoll just three days away, campaigning in the constituency is gaining momentum with political heavyweights like Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and her predecessor Ashok Gehlot pitching in to wrest the seat.

The Dungarpur bypoll, a reserved Scheduled Tribe constituency, has become a prestige contest, both for the ruling BJP and Opposition Congress.

For the BJP, the stakes are high as a win will ensure Ms Raje's supremacy in state party affairs, which seems to be in disarray with many senior ministers openly rebelling against her.

The victory will snub her detractors in the party and silence her critics who are out to get her with liplock and catwalk controversy, not much behind. Moreover, the result will reveal the mood of the voters, which will act as a pointer for the BJP, who have to face electorate just two years later.

For the Congress, the win is almost a do or die situation as the seat is a traditional Congress stronghold. The bypoll has been necessitated following the death of MLA Nathur Ram Ahari, who had won the seat six times consecutively.

Earlier, the Dungarpur royal family's Maharawal Laxman Singh of Swantantra Party, held the seat till 1978 after which it was Nathur Ram Ahari all the way.

The win is important for Congress as a BJP victory will ensure further loss of credibility for the party in the state, which has no noteworthy and popular leader at this point of time.

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