Jaipur: The magic of former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, popularly known as 'magician of politics', did not work for his son, Vaibhav, who was defeated from Sirohi-Jalore Lok Sabha constituency. This was Vaibhav's second consecutive defeat.
In 2019 Lok Sabha elections, he had to face defeat against BJP's Gajendra Singh Shekhawat from Jodhpur and this time, BJP's Lumbaram Choudhary has defeated him by more than two lakh votes. Lumbaram Choudhary got 7.96 lakh votes while Vaibhav managed 5.95 lakh votes. In 2019, Vaibhav was defeated by 2.74 lakh votes.
On the other hand, Ashok Gehlot was made senior observer and given responsibility of Amethi, which has been the traditional seat of Congress and the Gandhi family. In 2019, this seat was snatched away by BJP's Smriti Irani and Rahul Gandhi was defeated. This time Congress fielded Kishori Lal Sharma, who is close to Gandhi family.
Ashok Gehlot's election management worked for Congress and Amethi seat came back to Congress's kitty. Kishori Lal Sharma defeated Irani by 1.67 lakh votes while last time Irani had won by 55,000 votes.
Veteran Congress leader, Gehlot, had started campaigning for Vaibhav as soon as the poll bugle was sounded. The Sirohi-Jalore seat is believed to be dominated by migrants and Gehlot had toured from Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru to Chennai to woo migrants.
Again, for the first time, Vaibhav had released a separate manifesto for Sirohi, Jalore and Sanchore. Gehlot held rallies in Sanchore, Bhinmal, Ahor, Jalore, Siyana, Bhadrajun, Aburoad, Pindwara, Jawal and Chitalwana for Vaibhav. Also, he campaigned in Saranau, Shivganj, Bali and Aburoad.
After the Lok Sabha election results, Gehlot said that the Sirohi-Jalore seat had been challenging for the Congress since the beginning. "We have not been winning this seat for 20 years. We have challenges in front of us. Dictatorship and arrogance have been prevailing across the country. The Constitution and the democracy are under threat and elections were held in such an environment. The party has given us everything and it is our responsibility to stand strong in such times whether we win or lose the elections. That is why Vaibhav was made to contest the election from here after careful consideration," he said.
