Jaipur: The upcoming urban local body elections in Rajasthan, scheduled for Sept 9 and 11, are proving to be a midterm review of the BJP govt under chief minister Bhajan Lal Sharma, testing its two-and-a-half-year performance, grassroots organisation and electoral appeal.The elections covering 309 urban local bodies assume added significance as the same urban electorate will vote in the 2028 assembly elections. The polls will also be Sharma’s first major electoral test as CM since he assumed office in Dec 2023.“The significance of these elections can be gauged from the fact that the CM remained at the BJP state office till around 2.30am Thursday for extensive deliberations on candidate selection,” a senior BJP office-bearer said. Sharma is learnt to have returned to BJP headquarters late Saturday night for further discussions with party colleagues and senior office bearers.Party insiders said he has been working 18 to 19 hours a day, focusing on both governance and organisation ahead of the elections. He is also reported to be in regular touch with senior party functionaries, MLAs and candidates.The CM’s undistracted focus on winning the upcoming elections is not surprising, given that they come on the back of a mixed performance for the party in the assembly bypolls of 2024. The BJP won five of eight assembly seats, with Dausa going to Congress and Chaurasi to the Bharat Adivasi Party. In 2025, the party lost the Anta seat in another bypoll.The urban local body elections will now provide an opportunity for the party to demonstrate that these setbacks have not dented its grassroots hold, said a BJP party worker.The ruling party is taking its performance narrative to the electorate. According to govt data, around 1.9 lakh job appointments have been made over the past two-and-a-half years, while recruitment to another almost 1.5 lakh posts is under process. A recruitment calendar for 1.3 lakh posts has been issued for 2026.“The urban polls will test whether these achievements translate into electoral support. With the same electorate set to vote in 2028 assembly elections, the mandate from these local polls could serve as an early indicator of the political mood and a people’s verdict on both the Bhajan Lal Sharma govt and BJP’s organisational strength,” said a party functionary.For BJP state president Madan Rathore, the urban elections are an equally crucial organisational test. The biggest challenge will be managing competing claims from party workers, preferences of senior members and local political equations, while preventing rebellion and the emergence of independents after tickets are denied.“Urban centres like Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota, Ajmer, Udaipur and Bikaner, which are largely BJP strongholds, will be closely watched, with losses in these bastions likely to dent the party’s standing and raise questions over its urban hold. Issues including roads, sanitation, water supply, sewage, street lighting and local development are also likely to influence voters,” said a senior party member.“In local polls, where margins can often be extremely narrow, even a handful of rebel candidates could affect the BJP’s prospects,” he added.
