After the BJP secured a comfortable majority in Rajasthan, the focus is now on who will be the next chief minister. The BJP, which won 115 seats in the 200-member Rajasthan Assembly, is said to have several leading contenders for the position of Chief Minister. The party, which did not project a CM face, fought and won the Rajasthan elections collectively under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership.
According to the reports, former chief minister Vasundhara Raje, Mahant Balak Nath, who won the Tijara assembly constituency on Sunday (3rd December), Law Minister of India Arjun Ram Meghwal, MP Diya Kumari, Rajasthan BJP chief CP Joshi, and Union Minister Gajendra Shekhawat are said to be among the strongest candidates for the position of chief minister.
Who are the possible CM contenders in Rajasthan?
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) December 7, 2023
1) Gajendra Singh Shekhawat
2) Diya Kumari
3) Arjun Ram Meghwal
4) Baba Balaknath@anchoramitaw shares more details pic.twitter.com/23zGqauWZ8
Vasundhara Raje
Vasundhara Raje, a two-time former chief minister, was re-elected to the House from the Jhalrapatan constituency in Jhalawar by a margin of 53,193 votes. She received a total of 1,38,831 votes and defeated Congress candidate Ramlal, who received 85,638 votes.
Vasundhara Raje Scindia of the Bharatiya Janata Party holds the record for being the only woman chief minister of the state. She belongs to the prominent Scindia royal Maratha family and is the daughter of Vijayaraje Scindia-Shinde and Jivajirao Scindia-Shinde, Maharaja of Gwalior. She finished her graduation from Sophia College for Women in Mumbai with degrees in economics and political science and began her political career in the year 1984.
Vasundhara Raje, known as Raani among her supporters, is eyeing a third term after the BJP swept the election with 115 seats, defeating the incumbent Congress, which managed to secure 69 seats. The BJP is scheduled to hold a meeting in Delhi on Thursday (7th December) to discuss who might be the next CM of the state. Amid the race, Raje on 6th December made a visit to Delhi and dodged any questions on the meeting. “I have come to Delhi to see my daughter-in-law,” she was quoted as saying by the media.
Mahant Balaknath
Mahant Balaknath, a spiritual leader and Alwar MP, defeated Congress candidate Imran Khan in the Tijara assembly constituency by a margin of 6,173 votes. he belongs to the Yaduvanshi community and is Chancellor of the Baba Mastnath University (BMU). His political career was shaped by his Guru, Mahant Chandnath, a former Member of Parliament from Alwar.
Balaknath Yogi is one of the most influential leaders in the state of Rajasthan. He is known for supporting Hindutva and belongs to the Nath sect. He was nominated as the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Lok Sabha candidate from Alwar, Rajasthan, and he won in 2019 by a margin of 3 lakh votes over Indian National Congress candidate Bhanwar Jitendra Singh.
Arjun Ram Meghwal
Meghwal is the Union Minister of Law and Justice at present. He has also served as Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs since 2017 and Culture since 2021. Meghwal, a BJP leader, previously served as Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises from 2019 to 2021, Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs from 2016 to 2017, and Minister of State for Water Resources from 2016 to 2017.
He has also served in the Lok Sabha since 2009, representing the Rajasthan constituency of Bikaner. In 2013, he received the award for Best Parliamentarian. His name is at present being discussed as a strong contender for the post of Chief Minister in the state of Rajasthan.
Diya Kumari
Another rising leader Diya Kumari, who won the Vidhyadhar Nagar seat on a BJP ticket by defeating Congress candidate Sitaram Agarwal by 71,368 votes, is seen as a strong CM contender. The Vidhyadhar Nagar constituency is located in the Jaipur district.
Kumari is the granddaughter of Man Singh II, the last ruler of the princely state of Jaipur during India’s British Raj. She joined the BJP in 2013 and was elected to the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly as a BJP candidate from Sawai Madhopur in 2013.
She was elected as a Member of Parliament from Rajsamand to the Lok Sabha in 2019. She received 8.58 lakh votes, and her victory margin of 5.51 lakh votes ranks among the top 20 largest in 2019.
CP Joshi
CP Joshi, a two-time Lok Sabha member from Chittorgarh who presently heads the BJP’s state unit, is also considered to be a dark horse for the CM post. In the run-up to the elections, PM Modi praised his work as Rajasthan BJP State President in Udaipur. Joshi is widely regarded as a popular, simple, and soft-spoken. He began his political career as vice-president of the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) from 1994 to 1996. He later joined the ABVP, rising through the ranks to become a Member of the Chittorgarh District Council (Zilla Parishad) in 2000.
He was elected to the 16th Lok Sabha in 2014 and the 17th Lok Sabha in 2019 from the Chittorgarh Lok Sabha Constituency. He received 9.79 lakh votes, and his victory margin of 5.76 lakh votes ranks among the top ten largest margins of victory in 2019.
Gajendra Singh Shekhawat
Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, the Union Jal Shakti Minister who was elected to the Lok Sabha from Jodhpur, is also seen as an effective candidate for the post of chief minister in the state. Shekhawat has been the Lower House representative for Jodhpur since 2014.
He was born in Jaisalmer. Jai Narain Vyas University in Jodhpur awarded him a Master of Arts and a Master of Philosophy. Shekhawat began his political career as president of the Student Union at JNVU University in 1992. He was then named National General Secretary of the BJP Kisan Morcha, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s farmers wing. He was also a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Rajasthan State Executive.
He was elected to the 16th Lok Sabha in 2014 with the highest-ever winning margin (4,10,051 votes) from the Jodhpur constituency.
On November 25, Rajasthan went to the polls for 199 of the 200 assembly seats. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the elections and is poised to form the state government in the 200-member state Assembly, having secured 115 seats.
Earlier on 6th December, a purported press release attributed to BJP claimed that the party had selected Mahanth Balaknath Yogi as the next Chief Minister and appointed two Deputy Chief Ministers to assist the CM.
It also stated that Senior BJP leader and MLA from Sawai Madhopur Kirodi Lal Meena and MLA from Rajsamand Diya Kumari will be the two Deputy Chief Ministers. However, the Bhartiya Janata Party’s state unit took to X (formerly Twitter) and alerted that the press release was Fake.
From its official Twitter handle BJP4Rajasthan, the party tweeted, “Fake Alert!” along with the forged press release having the party’s name as the header to make it look authentic.
Fake Alert ! pic.twitter.com/GABYXWHveO
— BJP Rajasthan (@BJP4Rajasthan) December 6, 2023
Earlier on 3rd December, the BJP defeated the ruling party Congress after it secured 115 seats. While Congress bagged 69 seats, other parties in the likes of Bharat Adivasi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party secured 3 and 2 seats respectively.
