Where do members of erstwhile royal families meet? Simple answer would be in Palace, which happens to be their homes. But these two members of erstwhile Mewar royal family met at a poll booth in Udaipur after a long time.
Vishwaraj Singh Mewar and Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar are known to have bitter relationship after their infamous property dispute. They have not been seen meeting each other in public places since years. But election not only gives chance to emerge victorious, it also provide an opportunity to meet. The two met unexpectedly at the polling booth near Jagdish Chowk.
Lakshyaraj Singh was leaving the booth after casting vote while Vishwaraj Singh was coming to cast his vote. Both crossed by and greeted each other. Vishwaraj Singh's mother Nirupama Devi was also accompanying him.
Strained relations between two families
Vishwaraj Singh is son of Mahendra Singh Mewar, the elder brother of Arvind Singh Mewar who is father of Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar.
In 1984, Maharana Bhagwat Singh willed his entire property through a trust to younger son Arvind. He not only made Arvind the executor of the will, but also included daughter Yogeshwari Kumari as a trustee. Elder son Mahendra Singh, who had a year before accused his father of wasteful expenditure, polygamy and sought division of the vast property, was left out.
Mahendra Singh Mewar later moved court demanding equal share of property for family members and finally the decree has been passed in his favour.
But the relationship between the two branches of the family have remained tense.
Vishwaraj Singh enters politics unexpectedly
While there were rumours about Lakshyaraj Singh joining politics, his elder cousin Vishwaraj Singh entered the political scene and was made to contest election on BJP ticket.
He is contesting election from Nathdwara, where his fate is now sealed in EVM machine. He is facing a strong opponent C P Joshi from Congress.
The voter turnout in Nathdwara was 78.58% – 3.5% more voting percentage in 2013 when CP Joshi had won.
In 2013, the turnout was 79.35% when CP Joshi has not contested and BJP's Kalyan Singh Chouhan was the winner. in 2008, the turnout was 71.9% when Chouhan defeated Joshi by a solitary vote.
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