The Congress’s shrinking political space in Rajasthan was laid bare in the latest civic poll results, with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the CPI(M) emerging as alternatives to the BJP in two municipal bodies. While the AAP won a majority in the Baran Municipal Council in Baran district, the CPI(M ) secured the numbers to form the board in Nokha Nagar Palika in Bikaner district. Both results point to a similar trend of the Congress failing to consolidate itself as the principal challenger to the BJP. In Baran, the AAP won 31 of the 60 wards, crossing the majority mark. The Congress won 18 wards and the BJP nine, while Independents secured two seats. The AAP’s candidate is expected to become council president. The result is particularly significant given AAP’s limited electoral presence in Rajasthan. Its performance in Baran puts it ahead of both the Congress and BJP in a municipal council and gives the party a foothold in the state’s local politics. More than 217 candidates had contested the 60 wards. After the results were announced, AAP workers celebrated with processions in several wards where the party’s candidates had won. The picture was more striking in Nokha, where the CPI(M) won 29 of the 45 wards, leaving the BJP with 13 and Independents with three. The Congress failed to win a single ward, clearing the way for the Left party to form the municipal board. For the CPI(M), the Nokha result is both a local victory and an indication of the political space opening up to the party in parts of Rajasthan. State secretary Kishan Parikh attributed the result to anger against the BJP and the CPI(M)’s sustained campaign around civic and economic issues. “We have been raising the local issues and they saw CPM as a strong alternative and voted for us,” Parikh said. He argued that the party’s appeal went beyond local grievances. “If there is a party which can fight for economic issues and against communal politics, it is the CPM,” he said. “There was immense anger against the BJP and there is no Congress. So, the people chose CPM as a political alternative for constitutional principles,” Parikh added. The CPI(M) had fielded 192 candidates across Rajasthan, around 40 of whom won on Monday. Parikh said even victories in one or two wards were important because they represented an entry point for the party into local bodies where it could build a longer-term political presence. The Nokha result also fits into a broader pattern of the CPI(M) retaining or expanding its relevance in parts of Rajasthan despite its limited statewide electoral strength. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, CPI(M) candidate Amra Ram won Sikar as part of the INDIA bloc. In 2024, the Congress, which had drawn a blank in Rajasthan in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections, had left three seats for alliance partners — Sikar for the CPI(M), Nagaur for Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) leader Hanuman Beniwal, and Banswara for Bharat Adivasi Party’s Rajkumar Roat. All three candidates won. Nearly a year later, in April 2025, Amra Ram became the first Rajasthan native to be inducted into the CPI(M) Politburo, the party’s highest decision-making body. Parul Kulshrestha is a Principal Correspondent for The Indian Exp... Read More
