ALWAR: In a district that has witnessed several violent episodes of vigilantism tied to protection of cows, BJP’s tally has come down from nine seats (out of 11) in 2013 to two this time.The BJP only retained the Alwar (urban) and Mundawar seats in Alwar district. It lost Tijara, Kishangarh Bas, Behror , Bansur, Thangazi, Alwar (rural), Kathumar, and Rajgarh-Laxmangarh seats.Alwar shares a border with Haryana; the region is home to a large number of dairy farmers. A farmer said due to the fear of vigiliante attacks — especially after the lynching of Mewat resident Pehlu Khan in 2017 and Rakbar Khan earlier this year — transportation of cows had virtually stopped, affecting livelihoods.Stray cattle wandering into farms had become another major concern. “At night, farmers would sit in their fields with a torch and stick to ensure stray cattle did not enter. BJP, however, paid no heed to these problems,” said Rahul Meena, a farmer in Ramgarh.Caste politics played a big part in the result as well. In Tijara, BSP’s Sandeep Kumar Yadav made major inroads into the BJP vote bank by stitching together Yadav votes and BSP’s Dalit votes. In Kishangarh-Bas, BSP’s Deep Chand secured votes of Gujjars and Jats to defeat BJP’s Ramhet Singh Yadav. The consolidation of the SC, ST and Muslim vote — the area, along with Mewat, is home to a huge population of Meo Muslims — worked against BJP.BJP fared worse in Bharatpur, from where it returned a nil, down from five assembly seats (out of 6) in 2013. The SC and ST votes went to BSP candidates in Nadbai and Nagar. In Nagar, the BSP candidate Wajib Ali secured Muslims, Jat and Dalit votes, sending BJP to third position.