Her Congress opponent Ganesh Chauhan was a trusted aide to her late brother Madhavrao Scindia and Yashodhara Raje's camp sees this as the worst kind of betrayal against the 'mahal (palace)'.

"Madhavrao made him. Now he is standing against someone from the family!" says a palace aide in disgust.

But victory is not something this Scindia is worried about. It is the margin of the win that is important for her.

Seven thousand votes was the margin by which she won the last election, and that, she says, was as good as defeat.

"I take every election seriously. The last time people did not come out to vote because they were confident I would win."

This campaign, she has abandoned the helicopter and stuck to the road, trolling up dusty paths in her constituency, as she puts it, with "her gang of men".