Bit players may hold sway as Jat politics takes stage

The electoral landscape of Rajasthan looks more grey than black and white amid rival claims of victory. And with far too many boots on the ground, the terrain isn't suited to spot leading racers.

- Vinod Sharma

Thickening the haze is the voters' ambivalence. Only the core supporters of the BJP and the Congress are vocal, not the floating mass bedazzled by or cynical about freebies received or promised by the principal adversaries.

On paper, there are 58 parties in the impending contest. Most of them are poll-time pop-ups destined to perish after the November 25 vote. There are as many rebels born of the BJP's womb as of the Congress's. Their damage potential is greater than the seasonal political crop.

For instance, student leader and BJP rebel Ravindra Singh Bhati poses a formidable challenge to both established parties as an Independent candidate from Barmer's Shiv constituency. The influential Rajput community, lacking a pan-Rajasthan figure, sees in him the potential to step into the shoes of the late Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. To people fed up with familiar faces, his promise rings true: "I'm bad at political trickery but good at keeping my word." He's an impressive young face with a baritone.

The X-factor

Then there's an X-factor: the emerging third front comprising the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) of Lok Sabha MP Hanuman Beniwal and Chandrashekhar Azad's Aaj Samaj Party (ASP). A sample of the impact it can have is seen in Jodhpur's Lohawat. There, the sitting Congress MLA is said to be trailing in third spot. The fight is between the BJP and the RLP which has fielded a Congress rebel.

The RLP-ASP seem to have made the battle triangular with joint candidatures in 126 of the state assembly's 200 seats. The RLP is in the fray in 78 and the ASP in 48 seats. By the time the campaigning ends, Beniwal, who flies around in a chopper, would've addressed 80-odd meetings in tandem with Azad.