"Never Again Will Rajasthan Assembly Be Undisturbed!"

Recently, seven newly elected legislators, who won in the by-elections, took their oath in the Rajasthan Assembly. The Speaker of the Assembly, Vasudev Devnani, administered the oath to these legislators in his chamber on Tuesday. Among them were five BJP legislators: Revantaram Danga from Khinvsar, Rajendra Bhambu from Jhunjhunu, Rajendra Gurjar from Uniyara-Deoli, Sukhwant Singh from Ramgarh, and Shanta Devi Meena from Salumbar. Additionally, Dindayal Bairwa, the Congress MLA from Dausa, and Anil Katara of the Bharatiya Adivasi Party (BAP) from Chaurasi also took the oath. These newly elected legislators will undoubtedly be the focus of attention in the upcoming sessions of the Assembly.

During the oath-taking ceremony, an interesting moment occurred when Revantaram Danga, the BJP MLA from Khinvsar, arrived riding a tractor with his supporters and companions to take the oath. Danga defeated Kanika Beniwal, the wife of Ralopa leader and MP Hanuman Beniwal, from the Khinvsar seat in Nagaur district.

In the seven assembly by-elections held in the state, the BJP won five seats, while Congress and BAP each won one. Dindayal Bairwa from Congress defeated Jagmohan Meena, the brother of prominent BJP minister Dr. Kirodi Lal Meena, to secure a seat in the Assembly. However, the by-elections dealt a major blow to Congress, as they lost three of the seats they previously held—Devli-Uniyara, Jhunjhunu, and Ramgarh—retaining only the Dausa seat. Before the by-elections, Congress had four out of the seven contested seats, but after the elections, they lost three of them. On the other hand, the BJP achieved a significant victory, gaining five seats, thereby strengthening its position in the Assembly. Following the loss of the Khinvsar seat, Hanuman Beniwal's Ralopa party no longer has any representatives in the Rajasthan Assembly.

With the oath-taking of these seven newly elected legislators, the Rajasthan Assembly now has all 200 seats filled, with no vacant positions. This marks the first time since the construction of the new Assembly building in 2001 that all 200 seats are occupied. It is a curious fact that, since the new Assembly building was inaugurated, all 200 legislators have never been able to sit together. In contrast, such an occurrence never took place in the old Assembly building near the Hawa Mahal in Jaipur before 2001.

The new building has been the subject of much discussion, as there has always been a prevailing belief that the structure might have some "Vastu defects" or other concerns that prevent all 200 legislators from sitting together. Former government whip Kaloolal Gurjar had once demanded a Vastu correction ritual, including a Havan, in the building. Former MLA Habibur Rahman suggested that there was some unknown influence or shadow over the building, which made it impossible for all 200 seats to ever be filled simultaneously. Over the years, such demands have come up from various political leaders, but no government has yet conducted any rituals or ceremonies to address these supposed issues. Some people even point out that the proximity of a cremation ground near the Assembly building might contribute to this mysterious phenomenon. While this belief may be considered superstition, the fact remains that the question of why all 200 legislators have never sat together in the Assembly is yet to be answered.

The construction of the new Rajasthan Assembly building began in 1994 and was completed in March 2001. The building has a capacity of 260 members, with an additional hall on the fifth floor for the proposed Rajasthan Legislative Council, which also has seating for 260 members.

Coincidentally, before the recent by-elections, the untimely deaths of two legislators—Amrit Lal Meena from Salumbar and Zubair Khan from Ramgarh—had left their seats vacant. In the 15th Assembly, six legislators passed away in five years. Additionally, during the 14th Assembly and the COVID-19 pandemic, prominent leaders such as Cabinet Minister Master Bhawar Lal Meghwal, BJP MLA Kiran Maheshwari, Congress MLAs Kailash Trivedi, Gajendra Singh Shaktawat, and Gautam Lal Meena also passed away, resulting in the Assembly never having all 200 legislators seated together.

Now, with the completion of the by-elections, the Assembly has achieved full attendance, and hopes are high that this milestone will continue. Everyone hopes that Rajasthan’s Assembly will never face the shadow of such mysterious events again, and the full count of 200 legislators will always remain intact.