Jaipur/Udaipur: The Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP), which has emerged as a significant political force in southern Rajasthan in recent years, won only eight councillor seats across the state’s 309 urban local bodies in the 2026 civic elections, according to the Rajasthan State Election Commission’s official party-wise results.

BAP had pitched 99 candidates in 15 ULB contests with the highest 19 in Banswara Nagar Parishad, 12 in Dungarpur, 14 in Sagwara, 11 in Partapur, 6 in Pratapgarh and 3 each at Salumber and Sirohi. The party gave tickets to 9 candidates for the first time in Udaipur Municipal Corporation polls. Among other major urban seats in tribal dominant areas were Kushalgarh, Dhariyawad, Arnod, Mandar and Sadri Nagar Palikas.

The results show that BAP’s eight victories were concentrated in just three urban local bodies: three seats in Dungarpur Nagar Parishad, four in Sagwara Nagar Palika and one in Salumber Nagar Parishad. The party did not win a seat in any of the other urban local bodies listed by the State Election Commission.

The figures are significant because Dungarpur and Sagwara are located in the tribal belt of southern Rajasthan and are among the areas where BAP has sought to build a strong political base.

The civic election results were dominated by the BJP and Congress, with the BJP emerging as the largest party in terms of councillor seats.

According to the State Election Commission, the BJP won 4,179 of the 10,244 declared ward seats, followed by the Congress with 3,613. Independents won 2,273 seats.

Among the other parties, the RLP won 63 seats, AAP 42, CPI(M) 38, BSP 19 and BAP eight seats. The statewide vote-share figures also showed a narrow contest between the two major parties. The BJP polled 35.18%, compared with 34.24% for the Congress, a difference of 0.94 percentage points.

BAP's eight wins concentrated in southern Rajasthan

The SEC's ward-wise data shows that all eight BAP victories came from the southern Rajasthan belt.

In Dungarpur Nagar Parishad, BAP won three of the 40 wards. The BJP won 24, Congress 12 and an independent candidate one seat.

In Sagwara Nagar Palika, BAP won four of the 35 wards. The BJP won 23 and Congress eight.

In Salumber Nagar Parishad, BAP secured one of the 25 wards, while BJP won 12, Congress 11 and an independent candidate won one seat.

The concentration of all eight BAP victories in these three bodies is notable. It shows that while the party retained pockets of electoral support in its southern Rajasthan base, it did not translate that presence into a broader urban-local-body footprint across the state.

Dungarpur and Sagwara remain the key test

The results in Dungarpur and Sagwara are particularly relevant to BAP because the party's political identity has been closely associated with Rajasthan's tribal belt. Three candidates from the Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) won in the Dungarpur Municipal Council elections, and all three are Muslim. Not a single tribal candidate from the BAP managed to secure a victory there.

The official results also show the scale of the BJP's performance in these two urban bodies. In Dungarpur, BJP won 24 seats, compared with three for BAP and 12 for Congress. In Sagwara, BJP won 23 seats, while BAP won four and Congress eight. Thus, in the two urban bodies together, BJP won 47 of the 75 seats, while BAP won seven. The figures do not establish that BAP has lost its entire tribal support base. They do, however, show that the party did not emerge as the dominant force in either of these two urban local bodies.

BAP's performance is particularly relevant for its prominent leader Rajkumar Roat, the party's Lok Sabha MP from Banswara. The results provide a clear measure of BAP's current organisational and electoral reach in urban Rajasthan.

The SEC's figures show that the party won eight seats out of 10,244, and all eight came from only three urban local bodies.

That makes the results a setback in terms of BAP's expansion into urban local politics, particularly when compared with the BJP's performance in the same tribal-region municipalities. The results have also drawn attention to the role of Udaipur BJP MP Dr Manna Lal Rawat, who was appointed national president of the BJP's Scheduled Tribe Morcha in August. Rawat has emerged as an important BJP face on tribal issues at a time when the party is seeking to consolidate its organisation and political support among Scheduled Tribe communities.

The BJP's strong showing in Dungarpur and Sagwara gives added political significance to Rawat's new organisational responsibility, particularly in southern Rajasthan.

Rawat-Roat rivalry adds another layer to the tribal political contest

The shrinking urban footprint of BAP also comes against the backdrop of an increasingly visible political contest between Banswara MP Rajkumar Roat and Udaipur BJP MP Dr Manna Lal Rawat over influence in southern Rajasthan's tribal belt. The rivalry became particularly visible during a DISHA committee meeting in Dungarpur in December 2025, when a heated exchange took place between the two MPs and BAP MLA Umesh Damor. Rawat subsequently wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, alleging misconduct and disruption of the meeting, while Roat and his supporters presented the episode as a disagreement over issues concerning tribal areas and development.

The political contest has since extended beyond the incident, with Rawat and Roat taking sharply different positions on the question of who best represents the interests and identity of Rajasthan's tribal communities. Rawat's subsequent appointment as national president of the BJP's ST Morcha has given the contest an additional organisational dimension, although the civic-election results alone cannot establish that the rivalry was responsible for BAP's reduced tally.

The disputed claim of 300 BAP supporters joining Congress

Another development that preceded the civic polls was the controversy over the reported movement of BAP supporters towards the Congress. On July 30, Congress leaders claimed that around 300 BAP workers had joined the party at former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot's residence in Jaipur. The claim was publicly disputed by BAP founder Rajkumar Roat, who said that only a handful of people associated with BAP had switched sides and alleged that the number had been exaggerated for political effect.

BAP leaders further claimed that some of those present had actually been associated with the BJP and had returned to Congress after Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya's return to the party. The Indian Express also reported that some of the people who joined Congress were described by BAP as former or suspended members. Nevertheless, the controversy was significant because it surfaced immediately before the urban local-body elections and added to the political narrative that BAP was facing organisational challenges in its traditional southern Rajasthan stronghold.

What the results mean for BAP

The civic-election numbers establish a clear fact: BAP's urban electoral footprint remains small and geographically concentrated.

Several developments may now form part of the political debate over BAP's performance, but neither development can, on its own, be established as the cause of BAP's electoral performance. Roat disputed the 300-member defection claim, while the political confrontation between the two MPs predates the civic polls.

The Mooknayak tried to reach BAP spokesperson Dr Jitendra Meena for a comment, but he did not respond to the call.

What the election results do demonstrate is that the BJP has made a significant organisational and electoral showing in two important urban centres of southern Rajasthan, while BAP has retained only a limited number of seats in its traditional region. Whether this represents a temporary urban setback or a broader change in the balance of tribal politics will require comparison with BAP's performance in the forthcoming Panchayat elections and, ultimately, the next Assembly election.