The BJP made a clean sweep in Rajasthan again with the party bagging all 25 seats along with its ally RLP in Lok Sabha election results declared Thursday, barely five months after it lost to the Congress in the assembly polls.
It was a loss of face for Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot whose son Vaibhav Gehlot was defeated in Jodhpur by BJP's Gajendra Singh Shekhawat by a margin of 2,74,440 votes.
Four Union ministers of state-Rajyavardhan Rathore (Jaipur rural), Arjun Ram Meghwal (Bikaner), Gajendra Singh Shekhawat (Jodhpur) and PP Chaudhary (Pali)-were among the victorious candidates.
Diya Kumari, a former BJP MLA and member of erstwhile royal family of Jaipur, won from Rajsamand while Dushyant Singh, son of former chief minister Vasundhara Raje , was elected to Lok Sabha for fourth consecutive time from Jhalwar-Baran seat.
The Congress' hopes of better performance in the border state were dashed and it failed to open its account as the saffron party's vote share jumped to 58.5 per cent.
In the 2018 assembly elections, the Congress had wrested power from the BJP in the state, bagging 100 out of 200 seats. The ruling party in the state got 34.2 per cent vote, which is four per cent more than its vote share in 2014.
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Of the total 25 Lok Sabha seats, BJP contested on 24 seats and its alliance partner Rastriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) headed by Hanuman Beniwal in Nagaur.
Gelot said Prime Minister Narendra Modi won the Lok Sabha elections by raising "emotional issues".
"We accept the people's mandate with humility. The Congress has always worked to build a strong democracy. I thank the people of the state and Congress workers for peaceful participation in polling," the chief mnister said.
The highest winning margin was registered by BJP candidate Subhash Chandra Baheria in Bhilwara who defeated Congress candidate Ram Pal Sharma with a margin of 6,12,000 votes.
The victory margins varied from 5 to 6 lakh in 2 seats, 4 to 5 lakh in 6 seats , 3 to 4 lakh in 7 seats and 2 to 3 lakh in 5 seats