Ahead of Rajasthan's Panchayati Raj elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party released a state-level policy document — named the Sankalp Patra — setting out commitments spanning rural infrastructure, education, healthcare, support for women, employment, and farming. Both the BJP and Congress have been stepping up their groundwork ahead of the local body elections.
A statewide electoral push by the BJP places Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma and national president Nitin Nabin at the centre of the party's organisational effort across the state. On 25 September, Nabin's Rajasthan tour included the launch of 90 vehicles tasked with spreading awareness of party policies, alongside calls directed at regional leaders to address concerns around cross-voting and defections that had surfaced during urban local body elections.
According to the party, its policy platform took shape through dialogue with community leaders and people living in rural areas, with Rajasthan's varied regional, geographical, and cultural character factored into the process.
The BJP has put forward a plan to place a blood bank within every panchayat samiti area, framing the effort under the name "One Block, One Blood Bank." Under the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana, the document commits to raising the allocated support amount from ₹5,000 to ₹8,000.
Among the commitments laid out in the document, each gram panchayat would gain access to at least one senior secondary school, while pupils from households with limited financial means would receive ₹1,200 annually toward the cost of bags, books, and uniforms. Under the plan, each gram panchayat would receive an Atal Gyan Kendra equipped with internet connectivity, a digital library, study resources for competitive examinations, and guidance on career pathways.
A pledge from the BJP covers the creation of roughly 10 lakh jobs spread across both government bodies and private-sector employers. A ₹500 crore fund earmarked for the Rajasthan Agriculture Accelerator Mission would back farming-related startups under the plan put forward.
Under the manifesto's proposals, widowed women who qualify would see their monthly pension rise to ₹1,500, while female athletes could draw financial support of as much as ₹5 lakh. Under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, a road-building commitment stretching beyond 3,000 kilometres through rural areas forms part of what the party has put forward as its infrastructure agenda. A road-building allocation of over ₹9,000 crore has been put forward to bridge roughly 19,000 kilometres of gaps in the existing network.
Under the party's election document, Rajasthan Roadways buses would run on a scheduled basis linking each gram panchayat to its district headquarters, with smaller minibus routes and additional rural transport options also set to grow. Broadband access at every gram panchayat level, along with an average of ₹5 crore in local infrastructure spending per panchayat across a five-year window, forms part of the commitments put forward by the BJP.
Among the additional plans put forward are recreational spaces such as parks and open-air gyms, food courts serving larger village settlements, better documentation of land ownership through the Swamitva Scheme, and the planned handover of 25 lakh property title cards under that same programme. The document also puts forward placing a Grid Sub-Station facility within each gram panchayat.
Under the PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme, the party document lays out a pledge to lift yearly cash transfers to ₹12,000 per beneficiary while also guaranteeing wheat procurement at ₹2,700 per quintal — a figure achieved by adding a bonus on top of the Minimum Support Price. Minimum support price-linked purchasing arrangements for jowar and bajra are included among the plan's provisions.
Daytime power supply for irrigation, pipeline subsidies covering two lakh farmers, and structural support for field fencing, shade nets, and greenhouses all feature in the commitments the BJP has put forward for districts across the region. Among the provisions outlined are plans to establish an Amrit Sarovar in each gram panchayat, set up vermicompost units, draw up pasture development schemes, and create agricultural produce collection centres across every panchayat samiti area.
On the dairy front, a pledge of 20,000 cooperative societies stands at the centre of the party's agricultural agenda, with the aim of giving milk producers greater leverage when negotiating prices. Among the livestock-sector measures put forward, the plan envisions distributing five lakh additional Pashudhan Kisan Credit Cards across a five-year window, alongside concessional loans reaching up to ₹10 lakh for those engaged in poultry farming.
Two separate allocations featured in the document — a ₹34,102-crore outlay directed at drinking water supply and agricultural irrigation across the Shekhawati region through the Yamuna Water Project, alongside a ₹100-crore fund earmarked for camel conservation efforts.
Dotasra, who heads the Rajasthan Congress, described the document as a collection of pledges timed to the approaching vote. Pointing to funds that had been announced but not yet disbursed, he also raised questions about why Panchayat elections were being held back and why administrators had been put in charge rather than elected representatives.
The party has presented its manifesto as a framework intended to guide development in rural areas. Drawing on the approach used when Bhajanlal Sharma took roadshows through all ten municipal-corporation cities during the urban local body polls, the party has built its latest campaign around a centralised model. With Panchayati Raj polls on the horizon, questions around village-level governance, the delivery of past promises, and commitments to rural development have formed contested ground between the two parties.
