Royalty a big draw

It might have been more than half a century of the country attaining freedom establishing system of democratic governance removing royalty of feudal past, but former royals have all along been playing important roles in electoral politics in Rajasthan.

Out of 25 Lok Sabha seats in the desert state, former royal have represented at least 10 seats in the lower house in different elections in the past.

Former scion of Jat state of Dholpur, Dushyant Kumar, son of Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, and former ruler of another Jat state of Bharatpur Vishvendra Kumar are in the fray from Jhalawar and Bharatpur respectively this time in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections.

Bikaner Maharaja Karni Singh, an olympion shooter, represented Bikaner constituency in Lok Sabha as an independent member for five consecutive times till his death since the first general elections in 1952.

Another former royal wining five consecutive Lok Sabha elections is Raje, Maharani of Dholpur and princes of Gwalior, who had an uninterrupted stint in lower house since 1989 till she became Chief Minister recently.

Her son is now jumping in the fray to retain his mother's traditional seat.