In our series, covering profiles of key constituencies across States and Union Territories during the Lok Sabha elections, today we bring a report on Bikaner Lok Sabha seat in Rajasthan. The Bikaner Parliamentary seat is among the 12 Lok Sabha constituencies of the state where elections are being held in the first phase. Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal is contesting from this seat for the fourth consecutive time. 

A report:

Bikaner Lok Sabha constituency has been formed by combining seven Assembly constituencies of Bikaner district and Anupgarh Assembly Constituency of Ganganagar. There are more than 20 lakh 48 thousand voters in this constituency. After independence, out of 16 Lok Sabha elections Congress has won 6 times, BJP 4 times and candidates from independent and other parties have won six times. From 1957 to 1971, a member of the Bikaner royal family, Karni Singh was elected four times as an independent candidate from this seat. Film actor Dharmendra also represented this seat after winning in 2004 from BJP. After delimitation in 2009, this seat has been reserved for Scheduled Caste. Since then, Arjunram Meghwal has won three times in a row as a BJP candidate. This time, a total of nine candidates are in the fray including from BJP, Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party. BJP has once again reposed its faith in Arjunram Meghwal. He is facing a main challenge from Congress candidate Govind Ram Meghwal, who has also been a minister in the state government. Everyone’s eyes are on whether Congress succeeds in stopping BJP’s winning streak this time.