A mixed bag for former royals

At about quarter past five on Sunday evening, by when the results of 198 Assembly constituencies were already out on, came the news of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s latest win.

Erstwhile royal Diya Kumari was declared the winner from Sawaimadhopur , taking the BJP’s final electoral harvest to 162 seats.

After being in a cat and mouse game with National People’s Party leader Kirori Lal Meena for the better part of the counting process, Diya Kumari emerged victorious with a comfortable margin, defeating the popular caste leader by over 7000 votes.

But she was not the only ex-royal to have received people’s mandate in the polls.

Ms. Kumari , who belongs to the erstwhile royal family of Jaipur, will join a group of several scions of erstwhile royal families in the Rajasthan Assembly. While Ms. Kumari was the last BJP candidate to be declared the winner. Siddhi Kumari, granddaughter of famed shooter Dr. Karni Singh, the last ruler of the princely state of Bikaner, was among the first BJP candidates to emerge victorious in Sunday’s counting.

Siddhi Kumari, who won by over 30,000 votes, represents the Bikaner (east) constituency.

Manavendra Singh, son of former Union Minister Jaswant Singh of the Jasol principality, won from Shiv by a margin of over 30,000 votes.

But not all ex-royals were from the BJP and not all of them managed to win.

Congress candidate from Deeg-Kumher, Vishwendra Singh, from the erstwhile royal family of Bharatpur, defeated BJP stalwart Digambar Singh by a margin of over 11,000 votes.

Then, BJP rebel and independent candidate from Udaipur’s Vallabhnagar constituency Randhir Singh Bhindar, form the erstwhile royal family of Bhindar, won against his closest rival Gajendra Singh Shekhawat by a margin of 13,000 votes.

Among the ex-royals who tasted defeat, were Bharat Singh Kundanpur (Sangod, Kota) of the Congress and Rohini Kumari (Karauli) of the BJP.

Emamudin Ahmed Khan aka Durru Mian of the erstwhile family of Nawabs of Loharu was in the third place in Tijara constitiency.

And lest we forget, leading all these former royals, is the next Chief Minister of Rajasthan.

Vasundhara Raje, born in the erstwhile royal family of Gwalior, is also the daughter-in-law of the former Dholpur royalty.