Rajasthan: BSP's vote share growth hit

After seeing a steady growth in their vote share, Mayawati's BSP suffered a decline for the first time in Rajasthan where the BJP romped home with 162 seats.
The party, which won only three seats, could manage only 3.44 per cent of the total votes, down from 7.60 per cent in the 2008 polls, as per election commission data.
Out of the 75.20 per cent voters who cast the ballot, BJP got 46 per cent votes while Congress got 34 per cent.
Party leader Bhagwan Singh blamed the Congress for the drop in share of the party.
"We were expecting another increase in vote share this time but anti-Congress wave worked against us," he told PTI.

BSP first contested in Rajasthan in 1998 with 110 candidates of which two were elected, and they got 2.17 per cent voting share.

The party's tally was the same at two in 2003 but the voting share increased to 3.98, a jump of 1.81 per cent.
In 2008, 6 BSP candidates emerged victorious out of total 199 candidates, while the voting percentage hit a high of 7.6. But the MLAs later defected to the Congress, which had won the then elections.
Meanwhile, former Lok Sabha Speaker P A Sangma's National People Party, led by tribal leader Kirori Meena in Rajasthan, won four seats.

Out of the 200 Assembly seats, polling was held in 199 seats. The election for Churu constituency was put off due to death of BSP candidate.