BJP largest party, but chairperson pick gets zero votes in Rajasthan municipality

A municipal election in Rajasthan's Nagaur district has thrown up an unusual electoral setback for the BJP. The BJP had emerged as the single-largest party with 10 of the 25 councillors in the Mundwa Municipality, but it failed to secure the chairperson post, while its official candidate received zero votes.While BJP candidate Geeta Devi received zero votes, Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) candidate Alka Devi Kandoi, backed by the Congress, won the election with 13 votes, defeating Independent candidate Ghanshyam Sadawat by just one vote.Sadawat had entered the poll as an independent as he was denied a BJP ticket.The result has drawn attention because the ward-wise numbers suggested a different contest. In the 25-member Mundwa Municipality, the BJP won 10 wards, the RLP seven, the Congress three and Independents five. Yet none of the BJP's 10 councillors voted for the party's official chairperson candidate. The Congress and the RLP joined hands in the chairperson election and supported RLP candidate Alka Devi Kandoi.The Congress had three councillors and the RLP had seven, giving the two parties a combined strength of 10. However, Kandoi secured 13 votes — three more than the combined number of Congress and RLP councillors. Her 13 votes were enough to defeat Independent candidate Ghanshyam Sadawat, popularly known as Vicky, who secured 12 votes.Kandoi therefore won the chairperson election by a margin of just one vote.Sadawat finished just one vote short of the chairperson's post after securing 12 votes.Sadawat had previously won the councillor election on a BJP ticket and had also been politically active as the personal adviser to Rajasthan BJP state vice-president Dr Jyoti Mirdha.According to the political sequence described around the election, the BJP nominated Geeta Devi for the chairperson's post, while Sadawat did not receive the party ticket. He subsequently entered the chairperson contest as an Independent.His eventual tally of 12 votes put him just behind Kandoi, who secured 13.- Ends(With inputs from Kesha Ram)Published On: Sep 22, 2026 07:26 IST