Rebels may raise the bar for both parties in Sirohi, Jalore

The two western districts of Rajasthan, Jalore and

Sirohi

not only share their borders with

Gujarat

but also depend on it. The locals are obviously not very happy about it. But as development in the region remains elusive, they have no options.


They together form the Lok Sabha constituency (Jalore-Sirohi), which was thrice represented by Congress’s former Union minister Buta Singh and once by

Susheela Laxman Bangaru

, wife of former BJP president Laxman Bangaru. But the big names have done little to bring about the much needed socio-economic change.

Sarneshwar temple in Sirohi is visited by pilgrims and tourists.

As per 2011 population census, Jalore recorded a female literacy rate of 38.47%, the lowest in the state. Sirohi was hardly better, ranking third from the bottom with a rate of 39.73%. Recent figures on gender divide in government school enrolments too raise a concern. In 2018-19, Sirohi recorded a ratio of 73 girls, while Jalore’s ratio stood at 77, lower than the state average of 83 girls against 100 boys.

The general belief here is that the region failed to produce a strong, local political representative, which has cost the districts dearly. Few legislators from here have grown to become impactful state leaders, the only exception being BJP leader Tara Bhandari, who served as deputy speaker of Rajasthan assembly in 1998 and Otaram Dewasi, a minister in Vasundhara Raje government. Both are from Sirohi.

There are several issues in the two districts which have remained neglected for years – lack of medical facilities, better educational institutes, and infrastructure development. Drinking and irrigation water is a major issue in both the districts, except for Sanchore.

The district headquarters of Sirohi is still not connected to the rail network and Jalore, which is known as the granite city of the state, has poor medical facilities. Both districts have a high number of people from reserved categories like Dewasi, Kalbis, and STs. Rajputs have a presence though.

The districts have eight assembly constituencies, of which only one went to Congress in 2013 while BJP won the rest. Of the sitting MLAs, only two come from unreserved categories of Rajputs and Brahmins while the rest represent the reserved categories of OBCs, SCs and STs. Of the eight seats, two are reserved for SCs and one for STs.

The ruling BJP has replaced two of its four sitting MLAs in Jalore to fight anti-incumbency but has repeated all its three MLAs from Sirohi.

BJP is facing tough anti-incumbency in both the districts while both parties have to face rebels here. Former Congress MLA and a strong local leader Sanyam Lodha has filed his nomination as an independent from Sirohi while ruling party leader Jeevaram Choudhary has turned rebel and is contesting against the party’s candidate in Sanchore.