JAIPUR: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is making an all out effort to scale a Congress bastion in South Rajasthan's Dungarpur Assembly by-election to which the polling is scheduled for Monday. The by-election to the seat, reserved for Scheduled Tribes and never lost by the Congress in the past, was necessitated by the death of Congress veteran, Nathu Ram Ahari.

After a fortnight long acrimonious election campaign, which found Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje visiting the constituency three times and virtually the whole of her Cabinet shifting its base to the area, both the parties are not in a position to claim a clear victory. Ms.Raje, seemingly not in the habit of losing by-elections, has made it an issue of prestige. And coming as it is in the eve of the third anniversary of her "ascension" to power, her supporters seek a mandate in Dungarpur as a "deserving" birthday gift.

A victory may not prove much at the ground level expect the tenacity of Ms.Raje to get what she wants as a win after the kind of efforts put in by the ruling front may not carry much conviction on the Government's popularity. Yet a victory would surely provide a breather to Ms.Raje, under attack from various quarters, including from her partymen.

Crucial for Congress

A victory in the seat is important for the Congress which is looking for a break not only after the huge reverses it had in the southern tribal belt adjoining Narendra Modi's Gujarat in the 2003 Assembly elections, but also in the by-elections which followed.

It is also crucial for the Pradesh Congress Committee president B.D.Kalla that the party retains the seat, which it had won narrowly with a margin of 736 votes the previous time.

The Congress leadership in Rajasthan has been standing united in Dungarpur election. Those campaigned for the party nominee Punjilal Parmar include two general secretaries, Ashok Gehlot and Mukul Wasnik, Union Ministers, Namo Narain Meena and Kantilal Bhuria, Mr.Kalla, Leader of the Opposition, Ramnarain Choudhary and Congress secretary K.B.Krishnamoorthi. Hindi film comedian Asrani added some humour to the Congress campaign.

The BJP leaders who campaigned included State in charge, Kalraj Misra and State president Mahesh Sharma. Almost all the senior Ministers have toured the constituency. The Congress leaders, including Mr.Gehlot and Mr.Krishnamoorthi, have alleged large-scale misuse of official machinery by the BJP in the campaign.

"As many as 18 ministers have been camping in the constituency while senior officials of the Sales Tax and Mining Department have been entrusted with `tasks' to woo the tribal electorate. Ms.Raje is under panic. Anyway, even an election victory will hold back the rapid decline in her image," Mr.Gehlot said on Saturday after his return from Dungarpur.

"The past one fortnight saw lot of development work in the area including digging of tube wells and construction of roads," Mr.Krishnamoorthi said sarcastically, talking on phone from Dungarpur.

"Allegations baseless"

Ms.Raje have termed the Congress allegations "baseless" and a reflection of the "nervousness" in the Congress camp. The party had been campaigning in the name of the good work done by its Government in the State though Ms.Raje does not consider the outcome of the poll any test on its popularity.

As far as the candidate was concerned the Congress had an advantage, as within the party he was a consensus choice unlike the BJP nominee, Surmal Parmar, whose choice was challenged by the party candidate Sushila Devi.

The constituency has an electorate of 1,58628, majority of whom are Bheel tribals.

The high profile campaign this time is expected to result in heavy polling. The percentage of polling in the constituency in the previous election was 59.94.

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