The Congress has been fielding Muslim candidates for the Muslim-dominated Tonk seat for the last 50 years. Zahida Khan reached the assembly several times after winning several times. From 1980 to 2013, the BJP gave tickets to only Hindu candidates.

Senior Congress leader Sachin Pilot is once again trying his luck from Tonk. Pilot, who has changed his MLA every time in the last five elections, faces the challenge of increasing his victory margin from this seat. At the same time, Pilot’s supporters are once again trying to win by a margin of more votes than Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, demanding that he be made the Chief Minister. In the 2018 elections, Pilot had won by 10,000 votes more than Gehlot.

In such a situation, the question arises whether Pilot will be able to bridge the distance between him and the chief minister’s chair in the event of a Congress victory this time. Interestingly, Pilot, as an MLA, has given a big gift to the city by constructing a 3.5-km-long bridge over the Banas river. The bridge connects the city to Gahlod village. The bridge, to be built at a cost of around Rs 250 crore, will connect around 50 nearby villages, including Gehlot, to the city. His supporters want pilot to inaugurate the bridge as chief minister.

The Congress has been fielding Muslim candidates for the Muslim-dominated Tonk seat for the last 50 years. Zahida Khan reached the assembly several times after winning several times. From 1980 to 2013, the BJP gave tickets to only Hindu candidates. But in the year 2018, Congress gave ticket to Sachin Pailot. At the same time, the BJP had nominated his trusted aide Yunus Ali from Tonk under pressure from the then Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia. Tonk has around 60,000 Muslims, 35,000 Gujjars, 45,000 Scheduled Castes and 15,000 Brahmins.

Mumtaz Ahmed, a supporter of Pilot, says that if the Congress wins the election this time, then Pilot should become the Chief Minister. He doesn’t just stop there. He says that if Pilot becomes the Chief Minister, the party will do well in the Lok Sabha. He admits that he was disappointed when Pilot did not become the chief minister in 2018. Pilot is expected to get a majority of the votes of Muslim voters. Amin, who repairs motorcycles at the clock tower, says, “We will vote for the Congress. AIMIM candidate Shuaib Khan will not get many votes. At the same time, Gujjar voters are also inclined towards Pilot, although BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri is trying his best to connect Gujjar voters with the BJP again.

Despite the demand of the people of Tonk, Sachin Pilot has always been saying that first of all we all have to win together. MLAs and high command will decide the next chief minister. But this time he wants to break his record from Tonk seat. This is the reason that immediately after the announcement of the ticket, he met all the booth workers and gave them the mantra of victory. I also spoke to ward and panchayats. Party leaders believe that Ramesh Bidhuri will not be able to make much impact in Tonk seat, but can affect Gujjar votes in Malpura, Deoli and Niwai seats of Tonk district. Last time, the BJP got only one of the four seats, while the Congress won three seats. In such a situation, the BJP is trying its best to win as many seats as possible.