Cong's Pramod Jain Bhaya wins Anta bypoll in Rajasthan
Jaipur(PTI): Congress candidate Pramod Jain Bhaya won the Anta assembly bypoll in Rajasthan's Baran district with 69,571 votes, defeating his nearest rival and BJP nominee Morpal Suman by a margin of 15,612 votes, according to the Election Commission.
Suman got 53,959 votes, beating Independent candidate and Congress rebel Naresh Meena, who was initially in second place, by 159 votes in a tantalisingly close contest.
Bhaya maintained his lead throughout.
A total of 15 candidates were in the fray.
The bypoll was necessitated after BJP MLA Kanwar Lal Meena was disqualified following his conviction in a criminal case. Kanwar Lal Meena defeated Bhaya, the then minister in the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government, in the 2023 assembly polls.
Bhaya attributed his bypoll victory to a shift in voters' mood.
"In the last elections, people were misled by the BJP's assurances, but this time, they have blessed us with their trust," he told reporters in Baran.
Bhaya's victory comes as a shot in the arm for the Congress and an embarrassment for the ruling BJP.
"I salute the people of Anta for ensuring the Congress' victory. This was the BJP government's two-year test and it failed," Pradesh Congress Committee chief Govind Singh Dotasra said here.
"Voters have delivered a strong message ahead of the 2028 assembly elections. I am confident that the Congress will win the 2028 polls," he said.
Dotasra said Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma campaigned twice in Anta, ministers stayed there and senior BJP leader Vasundhara Raje also had a camp in the constituency, but people voted for the Congress.
Former chief minister Ashok Gehlot said the bypoll result shows that anti-incumbency has set in against the BJP just two years after it came to power in the state.
"I extend my heartfelt thanks to all the voters for ensuring the Congress' victory in the Anta bypoll and hearty congratulations to the newly-elected MLA Pramod Jain Bhaya," Gehlot said.
The BJP government failed to highlight even a single concrete achievement, he said.
"The common man is deeply distressed due to the weakening of our popular public welfare schemes, and this result is people's stamp of approval on the schemes run by the previous Congress government," he said.
The Anta constituency, part of the politically volatile Hadoti belt -- a region long considered Raje's turf -- has a history of swinging between the BJP and the Congress. The BJP held the seat in 2013 and 2023, while Bhaya won it for the Congress in 2008 and 2018.
Raje's son and Jhalawar-Baran MP Dushyant Singh was also actively engaged in election management in the constituency.
Sharma and Raje together held roadshows in Anta and several ministers and senior BJP leaders also campaigned in the constituency. However, it appears they were not able to strike a chord with voters.
With Friday's result, BJP holds 118 seats in the 200-member Rajasthan Assembly, Congress 67, Bharat Adivasi Party four, Bahujan Samaj Party two and Rashtriya Lok Dal one.
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Ramdev criticises US, Israel over Iran war; video viral
New Delhi: Yoga guru Baba Ramdev has sharply criticised the United States and Israel over their conflict with Iran, in a video from a television interview that has gone viral on social media.
Speaking on a show aired by ABP News, Ramdev was asked whether India should support Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was reported to have been killed on the first day of the war on February 28.
Responding to the question, Ramdev said, “You can kill a person, but you cannot kill his ideas, his philosophy, his mindset, his spirit, or his valour and heroism.”
He went on to express support for Iran, saying he may not know much about the country but believes its people cannot be subdued. Referring to the Shia Muslim community, he said no one could make them “bow down” or defeat them, adding that a significant section of Iran’s population strongly identifies with Khamenei’s ideology.
When asked about Netanyahu, Ramdev criticised both him and US President Donald Trump, saying they are “both cut from the same cloth.” He added, “I am not calling anyone a thief; I am simply citing a proverb it implies that they are both of the same ilk, and I consider them both to be war criminals. I consider them criminals against humanity; I consider them criminals against nature and the environment.”
He further said that the United States and Israel have “erected a Himalaya-sized mountain of political mistrust” and claimed that both countries would have to face the consequences for decades. “In this conflict, neither can America and Israel emerge victorious, nor can Iran be defeated,” he said.
Ramdev’s remarks come at a time when India’s position on the conflict has drawn attention. The government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has maintained what it describes as “strategic autonomy” in foreign policy.
