Jaipur: Rajasthan Congress has begun a post-poll review of its setbacks in the mayoral, deputy mayoral and chairperson elections, seeking reports from district units on alleged cross-voting, delay in distribution of party symbols and councillors defying the party line.PCC president Govind Singh Dotasra said reports had been sought from Bhilwara, Barmer, Dholpur, Pali, Bikaner and Ajmer. The move comes after Congress lost key civic posts despite having a higher number of councillors than BJP in some bodies.“We have sought reports from Bhilwara, Barmer and Dholpur for not delivering symbols on time, leaving our official candidates as Independents. In Pali, our party councillors did not vote and did not toe the party line in the mayor polls, while in Bikaner some councillors created problems in the deputy mayor election. In Ajmer, it seems cross-voting took place from our party. Once the reports come, action will follow as per the constitution of the party,” Dotasra told TOI.In Bikaner, where Congress retained the mayor’s post, the party is now looking into the voting during the deputy mayor election, which its candidate lost. District Congress president Gopal Meghwal said the local unit was identifying those who allegedly went against the party. “We are in the process of identifying those who betrayed us in the polls for deputy mayor. We want the state team to take action against those who betrayed not only the party but also the people who voted for us to form the board with the mayor and deputy mayor. It is unfortunate, but the truth will come out,” Meghwal said.In Ajmer, Congress had emerged as the largest group but lost the mayoral election. District president Rajkumar Jaipal alleged that BJP had deployed huge financial resources during the contest.“The kind of money pumped in by the BJP in the Ajmer poll was unmatched, or equivalent to what is spent in elections for MPs and MLAs. We have some idea about what happened. Even some Independents who had assured us of support betrayed us at the last moment. We will now deal with them accordingly,” Jaipal said.
