Rajasthan assembly elections 2018: Congress looks to wrest back its Mewar-Vaghad region

Whoever wins the Mewar-Vaghad region, wins the state, goes the popular belief. Understandably, stakes are very high for both parties in the ‘gateway to power’ that juxtaposes a tourist paradise with a tribal belt.

First, BJP managed to crack the Congress bastion in 2003 when the party won 22 of the 28 seats and went on to form the government. In 2008, Congress came to power after winning 20 of the seats in the region.

In 2013, BJP swept the region bagging 25 of the 28 seats. Two of the three seats it lost were in

Udaipur

district, the largest in the region with eight seats. The ruling party had lost one seat to Congress while the other was against its own rebel.

Things do not look very promising for the ruling party this time with widespread anti-incumbency in the district. The rise in private educational institutes and the Smart City project are not expected to provide a big relief to BJP in Udaipur city.

The inconvenience caused due to civic issues and haphazard works undertaken along with cleaning up of the two lakes at the district headquarters are playing on the minds of the people. The fact that Udaipur is not connected to Ahmedabad by a rail line is also a long-pending demand that has grown into a major poll issue this time.

The Lake City would be facing a “clash of titans” between BJP’s Gulab Chand Kataria and Congress’s Girja Vyas — both are veteran leaders. Interestingly, the only two times that Kataria has had to face defeat in elections was against Vyas.

Lack of infrastructure in its rural areas, though improved, is a major election issue, followed by the lack of industry. Locals complain that non-existent employment opportunities have forced the educated youth from the district to move out to

Gujarat

, Mumbai and other places.

The area is tribal-dominated with five of its 8 assembly seats being reserved for ST candidates. Most of the tribal community members prefer to live on hill tops, posing a major challenge for the local administration to provide facilities like roads and water.

Though there are schools and primary health centres in the interiors, lack of teachers, para-medical staff and doctors is a major issue across the district. With limited facilities at the district’s biggest government hospital, people, much like in the entire region, prefer to go to the neighbouring state of Gujarat for medical treatment.

Despite high anti-incumbency, which was obvious during chief minister Vasundhara Raje’s Gaurav Yatra, the saffron party has replaced only one of its six sitting MLAs. When the party initially announced its candidates for the polls this year, it had replaced its sitting candidate on Kherwara seat but after Congress announced its candidate, BJP decided to go with Nana Lal Ahari. Congress, on the other hand, has replaced its only MLA from the district, who represented Jhadol seat.