00:01Now, Rajasthan's local polls are done, but this isn't about who won how many wards.
00:08Underneath the headline numbers is a three-way contest.
00:13BJP is ahead, we already told you. Congress is a close behind, that's also known.
00:16But independents, they are emerging as a real third force,
00:21one that could end up holding the key to several civic boards as well.
00:25Now, start with the top line here. BJP won 41% of the seats,
00:29up about 5 points from last time. That's about 4,179 boards.
00:34Clearly, the largest share of the map.
00:37But, and this is where it gets interesting, it's not a clean sweep.
00:40The party took hit in Jhalawar, in Baran, in Ajmer.
00:44And that matters because even as BJP banks this momentum going into 2028,
00:49those losses are a reminder that local strongholds aren't as fixed as they look.
00:56Congress, if you see, 35%, 3,613 wards, down 5 points from the last round.
01:03So, yes, behind, but not out of the picture.
01:06They held on to important ground, including Ajmer and Jhalawar.
01:10And then, there is the wild card.
01:14There are independents and smaller parties, 24%, up from 21 last time.
01:20Total wards, 2,273. So, the difference is not much.
01:26Amati party has taken up, you know, Baran, CPIM formed a board in Nokha.
01:31Independence proving local politics isn't fully owned by the two big parties.
01:37And now, the second story sitting inside these numbers.
01:42Not BJP versus Congress, but the story of age.
01:48Some of the winners here are 21 years old.
01:52Just 21. That's a threshold at which you can contest elections in the country.
01:56A group we usually only talk about as voters,
02:00is now turning up on the other side of the ballot.
02:02Meet Neha Sharma, just 21, won the municipal seat.
02:09Congress' Faiz Hassan, also 21,
02:13took WOT 71 of the Jaipur Municipal Corporation.
02:16One in BJP, one in Congress, different parties, different backgrounds.
02:21Age, that's the same.
02:24Sanya Khanam, 22, independent.
02:26One WOT 6 of the Jahaspur Nagarpalika in Bilhavar.
02:34So, is this, as some headlines are suggesting, a Gen Z wave?
02:41Well, you have to be a little careful when you say that,
02:45because three wins, or perhaps a few more,
02:48if you take all of those ages in account,
02:50they don't really make a movement, do they?
02:52Most elected representatives are still well older than this.
02:56And these are local contacts,
02:59you know, decided by community equations,
03:00family networks, party machinery, local issues,
03:03not generational politics, really.
03:05So, maybe fair not to overstate the age.
03:09But perhaps also, not wise to dismiss it either, right?
03:14Because the real question isn't whether this is a wave,
03:17it's whether Gen Z is figuring out something,
03:20the rest of us haven't really clocked in.
03:23That's the fastest way into the system,
03:26isn't just on the street, it's the ballot.
03:30So, how exactly are these new age Gen Z leaders,
03:34politicians thinking?
03:35Let's find out.
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