Family of erstwhile Nawab of Tonk comes out in support of Sachin Pilot

New Delhi, Nov 23: Rajsthan Pradesh Congress Committee chief Sachin Pilot is contesting from the Tonk Assembly constituency but he will be facing a stiff challenge from rival Bharatiya Janata Party candidate and a very important minister in the Vasundhara Raje government Yunus Khan. Khan has been fielded against Pilot who had actually replaced the earlier announced candidate to take on Pilot from Tonk.

Tonk is a constituency with sizable Muslim population. This has been the reason that several time the constituency was represented by Muslim representatives and the BJP denied sitting BJP candidate to replace him with a Muslim candidate Yunus Khan. But the family of the erstwhile nawab of Tonk has come out in support of Sachin Pilot. Chief of the nawab family Aftab Ali Khan has made an open announced supporting to vote for Sachin Pilot.

Though the family of former nawab of Tonk keeps distance from politics but this year they have come out in open to support Pilot. As per a claim there are around 8500 registered members in the family. Chief of the Tonk Royal Family and Anjuman Khandan e Amiria Tok Aftab Ali Khan said that the city does not have basic amenities like education, industry and unemployment galores in the area. "So I feel Pilot could be the best possible candidate to deal with such issues. He understands the city, region and its problem. So he must be supported," he said. This society is the official unit of the nawab family.

Tonk has sizable Muslim, Scheduled Castes and Gujjars votes but interestingly in the last six elections, the BJP has won the seat four times. In 2013, the party won by a margin of over 30,000 votes. Geographically Tonk is close to Pilot's Lok Sabha constituencies - Ajmer and Dausa - from where he won in 2004 and 2009 respectively but lost the last elections to BJP's Sanwar Lal Jat in 2014.