Jaipur, Dec 3 (UNI) The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept Rajasthan polls ending Congress' five-year rule and is set to form the next government after winning as it ea 115 seats out of 199 for which counting was held on Sunday.
The ruling Congress, which was heavily banking on its guarantees, failed to break the jinx of any party regaining power in the state for the second consecutive term. While the party won 69 seats many of its ministers and MLAs lost.
The polls saw the advent of Bharat Adivasi Party which won 3 seats, followed by Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) with 2, and one each by Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLTP). Eight independent candidates also hit the winning post.
It may be noted that in the 2018 polls, while Congress bagged up 100 seats, the main opposition BJP picked up 73 with 13 Independents also emerging as victorious. Among others, BSP won 6 seats, RLTP 3, CPI (M) 2, RLD 1 and Bharatiya Tribal Party 2.
This time BJP has secured 41.69 percent of votes, showing improvement as compared to 2018 polls when it got 38.77 percent votes. Though the vote share of Congress also improved, the party lost 31 seats.
As per the results announced by the ECI, former Chief Minister and BJP candidate Vasundhara Raje has won from Jhalrapatan seat. She defeated her nearest rival Ramlal of Congress by a margin of 53,193 votes. This is the sixth time Raje has won the assembly election.
Bharat Adivasi Party (BHRTADVSIP) was the first which opened its account by winning Chorasi seat. Its candidate Rajkumar Roat defeated his nearest rival Sushil Katara by a margin of 69,166 votes in the Chorasi seat.
For the Congress, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot won, though a number of his ministerial colleagues fell by the wayside. Gehlot won by a margin of 26,396 votes defeating his nearest rival Prof Dr Mahendra Rathore of BJP in the Sardarpura constituency after 21 rounds of counting.
In Tonk seat, former deputy CM and Congress candidate Sachin Pilot defeatED his nearest rival and BJP candidate Ajit Singh Mehta by 29,457 votes .
in Jhotwara seat, former Union Minister and BJP nominee Rajyavardhan Rathore emerged victor with a comfortable margin of 50,385 votes over his nearest rival Abhishek Choudhary of Congress.
Congress state president Govind Singh Dotasra won with 18,970 vote margin over his nearest rival Subhash Maharia of BJP in the Lachhmangarh seat. In Udaipur BJP's Tarachand Jain humbled Congress national spokesperson Gaurav Vallabh with a 32,771 vote difference. UNI AB SSP