Rajasthan Assembly polls result: Congress leading on 4 seats, BJP on one

The initial trends show that Congress is leading on four seats in Rajasthan and BJP is leading on one seat as the counting of votes progresses in the 199-member assembly seats.

As per Election Commission, Rajasthan Congress MLA candidate Amin Kagzi from Kishan Pole constituency is leading in early trends, as per ECI.

The counting of votes for 199 out of 200 assembly seats in Rajasthan began on Sunday morning after days of intense campaigning by major political parties, including the ruling Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Meanwhile, Union minister and BJP leader Gajendra Singh Shekhawat offered prayers at Jaipur's Govind Dev Ji temple on counting day.

The exit polls have reinforced the perception of a hard contest in Rajasthan, with differences in their prediction of the winner in the crucial Hindi heartland state that has a nearly three-decade tradition of not repeating an incumbent government.

While three exit polls predicted the BJP to be the clear winner, two others showed Congress was ahead in the sweepstakes to form the next government in the state.

In Rajasthan, the survey said that Congress+ got the support of 32 per cent of members from the Jat community and the BJP got 38 per cent. It said the figure was 58 per cent and 31 per cent for the SC community for Congress and BJP, respectively; 46 per cent and 36 per cent for Meena and STs, 83 per cent and seven per cent among Muslims, 26 per cent and 53 per cent among Brahmins, 29 per cent and 47 per cent among Rajputs and 28 per cent and 48 per cent among OBCs.

BJP and Congress are engaged in an intense fight with both parties seeking to outdo each other in terms of poll promises.

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot (Sardarpura), former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje (Jhalrapatan), former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot (Tonk), state PCC chief Govind Singh Dotasra (Lachhmangarh), RLP convenor Hanuman Beniwal (Khinvsar) are some of the key faces among the 1,862 candidates in the fray.

The state is currently governed by the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government since 2018. He was the Chief Minister of the state from 1998 to 2003 and again from 2008 to 2013.

Sardarpura is on the list of key constituencies as Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has won this seat since 1998. The Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded Mahendra Singh Rathore from the Congress' bastion.

Meanwhile, senior BJP leader and former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, who was seen as being sidelined during the party's election campaign, has also become active ahead of the vote counting day.

Vasundhara Raje is contesting the election from Jhalrapatan in Rajasthan's Jhalawar, a constituency she has represented since 2003.

Raje, who has held two terms as the Chief Minister of Rajasthan, is contesting from the Jhalrapatan assembly constituency against Congress veteran Ram Lal Chouhan in the 2023 polls.

The two people for whom these elections will define their political futures are Gehlot, 72, who withstood all pressures from within the party to hold on as CM, and Vasundhara Raje, 70, who could not get the nod as BJP CM face.

Rajasthan went to the polls on 199 of 200 assembly seats on November 25. The majority mark in the state is 100.

In the Karanpur constituency, elections were adjourned due to the passing of Congress candidate Gurmeet Singh Koonar.

The state has around 52 million electoral population of whom 74.62 per cent voted through the EVMs on November 25, while around 0.8 per cent voters polled their political choices through home voting and postal ballots.

In 2018, the Congress won 99 seats, while the BJP won 73. Gehlot assumed the CM position with the support of BSP MLAs and independents.

Counting in four other states that went to the polls this month will also begin this morning. The polls, held months before the Lok Sabha polls, are crucial for BJP and Congress for various reasons.