Posters of 'moustache' appear in Rajasthan to celebrate victory of BJP candidate in bypolls

Jaipur, Nov 25 (PTI) The moustache, linked to masculinity and respect, has also got associated with electoral victory in the recently concluded assembly bypolls in Rajasthan. Posters of moustache have appeared at multiple locations in Khimsar assembly constituency of the state after results were declared on Saturday.
     Jat-dominated Khimsar seat in Nagaur district is considered a bastion of Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) supremo and Nagaur MP Hanuman Beniwal. Revant Ram Danga of the BJP defeated his nearest rival Kanika Beniwal of the RLP candidate with a margin of 13,901 votes. Kanika is the wife of Hanuman Beniwal.
     After the results, several places in Khimsar, including outside the house of health minister Gajendra Singh Khimsar in the Civil Lines area in Jaipur, were adorned with posters of moustache.
     The posters were put up as a symbol of victory of the BJP candidate following a call by minister Khimsar to get his moustache shaved off if the party faced defeat on the seat.
     During election campaign in the recently held assembly bypolls, Khimsar had vowed to remove his moustache if BJP candidate Danga faced defeat. In the election, the vow of the minister was at stake. He took this vow to unite the Rajput and other communities in support of the BJP candidate.
     Danga registered a win on the seat following which the minister expressed gratitude to the voters for "respecting" his vow and also the moustache.
     After the results were declared, the minister's supporters have been celebrating the victory as the victory of 'moustache'. To highlight this, posters of moustache were placed at different locations in civil lines, including at the entry gate of the minister's bungalow.
     The minister said, "I am thankful to the voters that they respected my vow. Me and my family have been serving them and will continue to do that."
     Hanuman Beniwal won the Khimsar seat in 2008 as a BJP candidate and as an Independent in the 2013 assembly elections. He formed the RLP and won this seat in the 2018 assembly elections.
     The Jat leader won the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Nagaur in alliance with the BJP and fielded his brother Narayan Beniwal in the assembly bypolls on Khimsar. Narayan Beniwal won the bypolls.
     The RLP was the part of INDIA bloc in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections but the Congress decided to contest the bypolls without any alliance and fielded its candidate Ratan Chaudhary in the bypolls on Khimsar.
     However, Chaudhary could secure only 5,454 votes.
     Newly elected BJP MLA Danga was a close associate of Hanuman Beniwal when the RLP was formed but later he parted ways after being ignored in the party. He chose to join the BJP.
     Former Congress MP Jyoti Mirdha, who also joined the BJP ahead of the assembly elections last year, was instrumental in bringing Danga to the BJP fold.
     Hanuman Beniwal and Jyoti Mirdha have been old rivals. Beniwal had defeated Mirdha in the 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
     Health Minister Gajendra Singh Khimsar belongs to Khimsar town in Nagaur. He is an MLA from Lohawat in Jodhpur.
     He was looking after the election management of the BJP in Khimsar, which was one of the seven assembly seats that went to bypolls.
     The ruling BJP won five seats while the Congress and the Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) bagged one seat each in the results declared on Saturday.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)