Jaipur housewife to Alwar journalist, meet Gen Z winners of Rajasthan polls

Young candidates from Gen Z have proven their mettle in Rajasthan's recent civic body elections. Even the election results have not been unaffected by the influence of the youth. In the capital city, Jaipur, 21-year-old Congress candidate Faiz Hasan secured a councillor seat in ward 71 of the Jaipur Municipal Corporation. He secured 5,426 votes, edging out independent candidate Mohammad Salim, who received 5,256 votes. BJP candidate Nisha Gaur came in third.

Faiz Hasan expressed his gratitude towards the people of his ward for putting their trust in him. He mentioned that his top priorities will be better sanitation and road construction in his area. Another shining star is Neha Sharma, a 21-year-old BJP candidate from Alwar's Thanagazi municipality. She defeated her Congress opponent by just 101 votes and has the highest winning margin among BJP candidates in the municipality.

Thanagazi gained prominence recently due to a school roof collapse which led to a protest by students, drawing attention to the CJP party. Neha Sharma, who has been working as a journalist for four years before entering politics, is currently residing in Gurgaon. Her mother, Pooja Sharma, expressed her pride in her daughter, stating that she has worked tirelessly to convince people to vote for her.

A 22-year-old BJP candidate, Suman Bhati, also made it to the winning team from ward 72 in Jaipur. She aims to set up libraries in the kacchi basti (slums) of her area and organize civil defense classes for women as her primary focus will be on overall development of her ward. Her husband, Ramesh, has previously been involved in Rajasthan University student politics and was a spokesperson for the Congress student wing.

Congress spokesperson Swarnim Chaturvedi noted that the party has given tickets to at least 4-5 Gen Z candidates in the civic body polls.