Tainted Congress leaders' relatives lose in Rajasthan

The Congress party's gamble in giving election tickets to the family members of tainted legislators in Rajasthan has backfired.

The party offered tickets to Leela Maderna, wife of former minister Mahipal Maderna who is behind bars in nurse Bhanwari Devi's kidnap and murder case; Amri Devi, mother of Malkhan Singh Bishnoi, another party MLA who is in prison in the Bhanwari case; and Hajarilal Nagar, brother of former minister Babulal Nagar who is in jail for the alleged rape and assault of a 35-year-old woman.

All these candidates have lost. While Leela lost to Bhairaram of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from Osian constituency; Amri bit the dust at the hands of Jogaram Patel, also of the BJP, from Luni constituency; and Hajarilal was defeated by the saffron party's Prem Chand Bairwa in Dudu constituency.

The Congress that won 102 seats in the last state assembly elections of 2008, is recording one of its worst defeats in the state. The party till 3 p.m. won only 15 seats and was leading on a mere seven others.