The counting of the results for the Rajasthan assembly elections is currently taking place, with the Congress currently racing ahead in around 89 seats, closing in on the majority mark of 100 seats. The Congress is banking on the desert state’s ‘revolving door’ anti-incumbency factor and the BJP stating that it will break the state’s tradition of having chief ministers of alternate parties for every assembly election since 1993. NDTV’s poll of exit polls says that the Congress will snatch power from the BJP and win 110 of the 199 assembly seats, just 10 above the majority mark requisite to form government.
NDTV’s poll of polls predicts the BJP would win only 78 seats. The BJP has this time, suffered from a number of defections from its ranks to the Congress (which could cause a significant dent in its Meena vote bank), including the significant one of Manvendra Singh, the son of former union minister and senior BJP leader, Jaswant Singh.
The Congress, meanwhile, is suffering from its own internal unrest, with the party, which will have to choose a chief ministerial candidate from rivals Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot. Choosing to go with tradition and not name its candidate before the elections, the Congress gave tickets to both the rivals. While Congress’ old warhorse Mr Gehlot will go up against the BJP’s Shambhu Singh in the Sardarpura seat, Mr Pilot, while being a two-time parliamentarian, will contest his first assembly election from Tonk against the BJP’s sole Muslim candidate in the state, Yoonus Khan, Ms Raje’s number-two and current transport minister of Rajasthan.
The Congress has challenged the BJP’s decision to field only one Muslim candidate while handing out tickets to 15 Muslim candidates.
The fate of Rajasthan’s around 2,274 candidates, 189 of whom are women, will be decided by the state’s 4.74 crore electorate, of which 74.21 per cent turned up to vote for the state elections, which were held on December 7. (PTK)
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