Rajasthan civic polls: BJP wins all seven chairperson posts in Balotra as Jaipur mayor race takes shape

What happens when a party that has already won the numbers game in a local election has to win another vote to control the chair?

That is the question playing out across Rajasthan as the state completes the second stage of its 2026 urban local body elections. In Balotra district, the answer came quickly on Monday: the BJP won the chairperson posts in all seven urban local bodies that went to an indirect election.

The results covered the Balotra Municipal Council and six municipal boards — Jasol, Siwana, Samdari, Sindhari, Gudamalani and Dhorimanna. The chairpersons were elected by the newly elected councillors rather than directly by voters.

BJP wins all seven chairperson elections in Balotra

In Balotra Municipal Council, BJP's Yogesh Gehlot secured 30 votes to defeat Congress candidate Ankita, who received 25.

At Jasol, BJP's Nirmala Prajapat won with 13 votes against Congress' Mamta, who got seven. In Siwana, Bhagwat Singh secured 15 votes against 10 for the Congress candidate.

The pattern continued in Samdari, where BJP's Suresh Kumar won 17-8, and Sindhari, where Champa Devi received 14 votes against Congress candidate Bhanwararam's six. In Gudamalani, Sheetal Bharat Jain won 13-7 against Congress' Kalpana Shekhawat.

Dhorimanna produced a different result: BJP's Kirti Gosaiwal was elected unopposed. Gosaiwal, who is 21, has also been reported by The Times of India as Rajasthan's youngest municipal chairperson. She was elected from Ward 7 and had been nominated by the BJP for the newly formed municipality's chairperson post.

How Balotra's ward results set up Monday's sweep

The chairperson results did not come out of nowhere.

In the councillor elections held earlier this month, the BJP had already secured a majority across all seven urban local bodies in Balotra district. It won 105 of the 185 wards, compared with 62 for Congress and 18 for independents, according to The Times of India. In Balotra Municipal Council itself, the BJP won 29 of 55 wards, while Congress took 23 and independents three.

That distinction matters because Rajasthan's civic system involves separate elections for councillors and the heads of urban local bodies. A party can therefore have a strong presence in a council without automatically having its preferred candidate elected chairperson if it lacks the required numbers or support.

Balotra, in this case, had the numbers before Monday's vote. The chairperson elections converted that councillor strength into all seven top posts.

Rajasthan's civic contest is bigger than Balotra

Zoom out from Balotra and the picture becomes considerably more complicated.

Rajasthan's urban local body elections covered 309 bodies and more than 10,000 wards. The BJP emerged as the largest party by ward count, winning 4,179 seats, while Congress won 3,613 and independents 2,273.

The ward numbers, however, did not translate into identical outcomes everywhere. Independents played a significant role in several bodies, while smaller parties also secured local victories. BJP reportedly won clear majorities in four of Rajasthan's 10 municipal corporations, while Congress secured Bikaner and independents emerged as the largest group in Bharatpur.

The indirect chairperson elections therefore became the next piece of the puzzle.

Why the chairperson vote matters

There is a simple reason these elections attract so much attention: the chairperson or mayor is the political face of the civic body, but the vote to choose that person is cast by elected councillors.

That can produce results that look different from the original ward tally.

Dholpur provided one example. Congress reportedly had 27 councillors in the municipal council but lost the chairperson post to independent candidate Girish Kumar Garg, highlighting how the indirect system can produce outcomes that do not simply mirror the party with the largest number of councillors.

Across Rajasthan, 32 heads of urban local bodies had already been elected unopposed before Monday's scheduled voting. Of those, 28 were from the BJP, two from Congress and two were independents.

Jaipur mayor election now becomes the next big test

And then there is Jaipur. The state's capital is heading for its own mayoral contest on September 25. The BJP has nominated Sunil Kothari, a former Jaipur city BJP president and councillor from Ward 112. Congress has fielded Sunita Mahawar, a councillor from Ward 118. Both candidates have filed their nominations.

The numbers going into that election are already known. Following repolling, the 150-member Jaipur Municipal Corporation has 78 BJP councillors, 57 Congress councillors and 15 independents, according to reports from The Times of India and other outlets.

Voting is scheduled for September 25, with the nomination withdrawal deadline falling on September 22.

The Jaipur contest will therefore offer another look at how Rajasthan's indirect civic elections work — where the ward results establish the numbers, but the final choice of mayor still happens through a separate vote among elected councillors.

For now, Balotra has produced the clearest result of the latest round: seven civic bodies, seven chairperson posts, and seven BJP winners. The larger Rajasthan picture, however, includes close contests, independents, unopposed candidates and upcoming mayoral battles — making the state's urban political map more varied than a single party tally might suggest.

(With inputs from ANI)