BJP’s defeat in Anta bypoll foments dissent with questions over campaign strategy

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s defeat in the Assembly bye-election at Anta in Rajasthan has fomented dissent with questions being raised over the party’s campaigning strategy. Party insiders feel that the senior leaders of the Hadoti region were sidelined and the ground-level realities were ignored.

The Opposition Congress wrested the seat from the BJP in the bypoll result announced on November 14, when former Minister Pramod Jain defeated Morpal Suman with a margin of 15,612 votes. As the Congress became confident after its victory, the deliberations within the BJP are centred on factionalism, internal squabbles and lack of coordination among the leaders.

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Seven-time BJP MLA and a veteran leader of the Hadoti region in south-eastern Rajasthan, Pratap Singh Singhvi, has blamed former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and the party leadership for the loss. Mr. Singhvi said the BJP’s campaigning “lacked cohesive and collective efforts” and the top leadership ignored the party workers’ contribution.

“First-time MLAs were given prominence in the events like road shows of Ms. Raje and [Chief Minister] Bhajan Lal Sharma, but I was neither invited nor assigned any responsibility,” Mr. Singhvi told journalists in Jaipur. The Chhabra MLA regretted that the senior leaders were ignored and the local issues affecting the electorate were not addressed in an effective manner.

Mr. Singhvi had shot off a letter to BJP national president J.P. Nadda ahead of the polling on November 11, complaining about the “mistreatment” meted out to him. He said since his offer of ground support was ignored, the party workers were demoralised and the party machinery in the constituency was weakened.

As the Anta constituency falls in Ms. Raje’s core area of influence, adjacent to her home district Jhalawar, the defeat is likely to embolden her detractors in the party and justify the claim of her irrelevance after the appointment of first-time MLA Mr. Sharma as the Chief Minister. Insiders also believe that the party could not overcome the low profile of its candidate Mr. Suman, who is Pradhan of Baran panchayat samiti, in the high-profile contest.

BJP’s Rajasthan in-charge Radha Mohan Das Agarwal, who arrived in Jaipur on Tuesday (November 18, 2025) to attend a meeting for the upcoming “unity march”, said the ruling party could have won the Anta bye-election through political pressure, voter lists or administrative influence, but it acted with “democratic principles” and respected the public sentiment.

“The bypoll result has proved that the BJP conducts all elections fairly and with complete honesty,” Mr. Agarwal said. The BJP was winning numerous elections across the country and had no hesitation in losing a few, he added.

The bye-election was necessitated after the disqualification of sitting BJP MLA Kanwar Lal Meena in May this year under the Representation of the People Act after he was convicted in a 20-year-old criminal case. Meena, who is at present serving his three-year sentence in prison, is considered close to Ms. Raje.