JODHPUR: Indian maharajahs and queens are leaving their stately palaces and polo matches to contest upcoming state polls, with most banking on their erstwhile divine rights to lap up votes in their lost fiefdoms.

Political parties are also counting on the royalty of the desert state of Rajasthan and adjoining Madhya Pradesh, where medieval values are cherished and lineages revered despite kings and queens having been stripped of their titles and privileges in 1971.

Delhi city and the state of Chhattisgarh go to polls on December 1 too, but the royal retenue is most conspicuous in campaigning in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, where many maharajahs have turned their palaces into exquisite hotels to pursue their addiction for wealth.

“I don’t believe my royal linkage would be disadvantageous but being a woman is definitely helping me in communicating with people, particularly women in rural areas,” said contender Vasundhara Raje of India’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The erstwhile princess from Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior city is hoping her charisma will help oust the main opposition Congress party from Rajasthan, where she is contesting against state chief minister Ashok Gehlot.

Raje, who belongs to Gwalior’s legendary Scindia dynasty, has campaigned for the BJP in the heat and dust of 55 Rajasthan constituencies — most bereft of basic comforts such as running water or electricity.

She said her royalty had not come in the way of meeting potential voters.

“I take inspiration from my mother who taught us how one should be generous and courteous with every human being irrespective of one’s status,” she said. Her mother, Vijaya Raje Scindia, was a top BJP leader until her death.

Other members of the royalty did not appear as modest as Raje, a former cabinet minister.

“Our royal background will help us in this elections,” said erstwhile queen Divya Singh, who has been sponsored by the regional Indian National Lok Dal party (INLD) to contest elections from her home estate of Rajasthan’s Bharatpur, now a popular bird sanctuary.

The Congress, which was behind the stripping of Indian royalty 33 years ago, has also found special love for the magnificent majesties ahead of the polls, which are seen as a litmus test of the popularity of the BJP and its foe.

The Congress has fielded Arun Singh of the Diag princely estate.

Meanwhile the former maharaj-ah’s royal sister, Deepa Singh, is wooing voters for herself, without support from any political party, in the same Rajasthani provincial constituency.

“Brother may fight sister but it is the nobility that will earn them votes which means the BJP in Diag might as well give up,” said a local BJP official, who could not find blue blood to counter the royal siblings of the tiny estate.

In the once-lavish estate of Alwar, Congress-backed prince Jitender Singh is taking on his sister Meenakshi Devi, whose royal charm won her an INLD sponsorship for the state free-for-all-elections.

Although the erstwhile kings and their consorts live on state dole, most have squirrelled away enough to last generations, historians say.

In Madhya Pradesh, successive generations of the Scindias have maintained a clear hold over electoral fortunes in Gwalior, where the family ruled from the early 18th century until their titles and purse were snatched by the Indian government.

The city landscape is outlined by the medieval Gwalior Fort, held by Scindias and a huge 365-room palace. Another smaller palace, called the Jai Vilas Palace, is home to the 12th king of Gwalior, Jyotiraditya Scindia, and served by a staff of nearly 300 people.

“Even the bathrooms here are bigger than any normal Indian house,” said one Scindia aide.—AFP