This dusty Rajasthan town, famous for its starched cotton sarees, finds its electoral niche in its assembly line production of IIT entrants, courtesy the private coaching institutes that have mushroomed all over. Given that there is still no national-level educational institute in the town, both the BJP and Congress are trying to woo the electorate with the promise of establishing an Indian Institute of Technology in Kota itself.

The IIT promise has had parties scrambling, jostling for space and credit — pictures of either the BJP or Congress candidate loom large next to advertisements for Kota’s famed IIT coaching centres. Despite a struggling industrial sector, irrigation and canal woes and the rural electorate outnumbering Kota’s urban vote, the pursuit of an IIT remains top of the election agenda.

But Kota residents are more realistic. Businessman Rajeev Sinodia says “it’s a battle between two parties who do not care for Kota, neither has any large issue to campaign with in Kota and is only using this IIT dream.” He points out that “one MP alone is not enough to bring an IIT to a city such as Kota.”

With no real challenge from the BSP or independents, the poll battle in Kota is between Ijjeyraj Singh, the erstwhile Kota royal scion contesting on a Congress ticket, and Shyam Sharma, a long-time RSS worker and a former PWD engineer who is the BJP nominee. Since both are first-timers, the BJP and Congress poll pitch are largely similar, except on the IIT issue which Sharma has pursued aggressively.

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