 "BJP")
As the counting of votes concluded in Rajasthan, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured a comfortable win in the state with 115 seats. With more than 101 seats, the BJP will form the government in Rajasthan, continuing the tradition of alternating governments with the Congress. The Congress party secured 69 seats, while the Bahujan Samaj Party won two seats.
The Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLTP) won one seat, Bharat Adivasi Party (BHRTADVSIP) secured three and independent candidates took eight seats in the 200-seat Assembly.
Key political wins in Rajasthan
Former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje will continue to her seat from the Jhalrapatan constituency. She won a total of 138,831 votes and a vote margin of 53,193.
MP Diya Kumari from Vidhyadhar Nagar maintained her lead throughout the counting of votes. She secured the seat against Congress candidate Sitaram Agarwal with a margin of 71,368. She secured a total of 158,516.
MP Baba Balaknath also secured his seat from the Tijara constituency with 110,209 votes and a vote margin of 6,173 against Congress candidate Imran Khan.
MP Kirodi Lal Meena from Sawai Madhopur maintained his lead, winning a total of 81,087 votes. Meena secured the win for the BJP with a vote margin of 22,510 against Congress candidate Danish Abrar.
Rajyavardhan Rathore won the Jhotwara seat against Congress candidate Abhishek Choudhary with a margin of 50,167 votes. He secured a total of 147,913 votes.
The remaining MPs, including Bhagirath Chaudhary contesting from Kishangarh, and Narendra Kumar from Mandawa lost the seats to their Congress counterparts Vikash Choudhary and Kumari Rita Chaudhary, respectively. Deviji Patel from Sanchore lost to independent candidate Jiva Ram Choudhary.
Leader of Opposition in Rajasthan Rajendra Rathore also failed to secure the Taranagar seat against Narendra Budania of the Congress party. Budania secured the seat with 108,236 votes and a margin of 10,345.
The BJP earlier stated that the chief minister's position would be decided after the elections. Media speculates that it may go to one of the MPs leaving Divya Kumari, Rajyavardhan Rathore, Kirodi Lal Meena, and Baba Balaknath, along with former CM Vasundhara Raje.
Congress' performance in Rajasthan
The BJP won 41.69 per cent of the vote margin in the state, compared to Congress' 39.53 per cent.
Ashok Gehlot secured the Sardarpura seat, which he has held since 1998, with a vote margin of 26,396 against BJP candidate Mahendra Singh Rathore. He secured a total of 96,859 votes. Similarly, Congress leader Sachin Pilot secured his Tonk seat with 105,812 votes and a vote margin of 29,475 against BJP candidate Ajit Singh Mehta.
Rajasthan Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra also won the Lachhmangarh against BJP candidate Subhash Maharia with 113,304 votes and 18,970 vote margin. Meanwhile, Rajasthan Assembly Speaker CP Joshi lost the Nathdwara seat to BJP's Vishvaraj Singh Mewar by a margin of 7,504 votes.
Regional parties and independent candidates
Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) chief Hanuman Beniwal secured his seat from Khinswara with 79,492 votes. He won against BJP candidate Rewant Ram Danga with a vote margin of 2,059. Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) also secured one seat - Bharatpur.
Independent candidate Jiva Ram Choudhary won the Sanchore seat against Congress candidate Sukhram Vishnoi and BJP MP Deviji Patel with a slim vote margin of 1,302.
The Bharat Adivasi Party (BHRTADVSIP) won three seats - Dhariawad, Aspur, and Chorasi. The Bahujan Samaj Party won two seats - Sadulpur and Bari.
Results align with exit polls
The results are also in line with the exit polls, which favoured the BJP. Republic TV- Matrize (115-130 seats to BJP, 65-75 seats to Congress), P-MARQ (105-125 seats to BJP, 69-91 seats to Congress), and Times Now-ETG (108-128 to BJP, 56-72 seats to Congress) predict a clear win for the Opposition party in the state.
The lower end of the Jan Ki Baat survey (100-122 seats to BJP, 62-85 seats to Congress) may recreate Congress' situation from the 2018 elections. However, with 85 seats (at most), Congress was far below the majority to give BJP any contest.
BJP promises in Rajasthan
BJP's manifesto for Rajasthan focuses on farmers, women and combating corruption in the state. BJP has promised to double the PM Kisan Nidhi entitlement to Rs 12,000 from Rs 6,000, purchasing wheat at Rs 2,700 a quintal and providing cooking gas cylinders to poor households for Rs 450 each.
For its anti-corruption agenda, the BJP has committed to improving law and order by setting up “anti-Romeo squads”, an “anti-terrorist commando centre”, and an “anti-gangster task force” in the state. The BJP has also promised to create a special investigation team to look into the paper leak scam.
The manifesto also promised Rs 5 thalis under the Annapurna scheme, which was started in 2016 by the Vasundhara Raje government in the state. The BJP also promised to provide 250,000 government jobs over the next five years. It stated it would strive to create a $350 billion economy in the state.
Rajasthan, initially scheduled to vote on November 23, went to polls on Saturday, November 25. Following the death of Congress candidate and incumbent MLA Gurmeet Singh Koonar, the election for the Karanpur seat in Sriganganagar has been put on hold, leaving only 199 of the 200-seat Assembly to go to polls.
With 52.6 million registered voters, approximately 74.13 per cent voter turnout was recorded in Rajasthan, slightly above the 74.06 per cent voter turnout recorded in the 2018 assembly polls. Aside from this, more than 300,000 voters sent in their ballots via post and the voting of over 12,000 elderly and disabled electors was done from their homes. 1,862 candidates contested the elections, out of which 183 were female, and 1,692 were male candidates.
