It's Mahant vs ex-royal in Rajasthan's Alwar

Alwar, May 03: In the keenly-contested Lok Sabha polls in Rajasthan, Alwar, infamous for alleged lynching incidents is considered to be one of the most interesting ones.

Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Mahant Balak Nath is making his debut, taking on the scion of erstwhile rulers of Alwar, Jitendra Singh. Balak Nath's prime qualification is that he is disciple of Mahant Chand Nath, who won in 2014.

Chand Nath then passed away, necessitating a bypoll, which was won by the Congress's Karan Singh Yadav. The bypolls turned out to be a litmus test for the BJP government in Rajasthan, where people vented their ire against Vasundhara Raje.

The Bahujan Samaj Party's (BSP) Imran Khan, owner of a construction company, is also in the fray. On the ground, however, he is drawing little traction.

Though Jitendra Singh remains a favourite in Alwar and his posters are splashed across the city, Gujjar voters in this region are not favourably disposed towards him. The Gujjar community to which Sachin Pilot belongs to is vocal against the Congress for not anointing their leader as the CM of Rajasthan.

As far as caste factor is concerned, over three lakh votes come from Yadav, Meo and scheduled castes (SC). Brahmin, Jats, Meenas and Sainis are all in good numbers.

The Congress has also been banking on support from the minority community, the Scheduled Castes and the Maalis in the region to win the Alwar Lok Sabha seat.

While the BJP is banking on all the Rajasthan seats on Modi's leadership, the fallout of Balakot airstrike, and the return of Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman from Pakistan.

Another issue that may affect poll prospects in Alwar is Cow vigilantism. The area has witnessed several incidents of mob lynchings in the name of cow vigilantism.

Both the Congress and the BJP will have a direct confrontation in the state in the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections 2019. However reports suggests that and the BJP may even buck the trend and may come out victorious.

For the last two decades in Rajasthan, the ruling party has always won most of the state's 25 seats in the Lok Sabha.

Alwar will go to polls on May 6 and results will be out on May 23.