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Saffron wave drowns Congress's assembly poll gains in Rajasthan

May 24, 2019 11:18 IST

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.  

IMAGE: Congress supporter with party flag outside party office in New Delhi. Photograph: ANI Photo

The Bharatiya Janata Party made a clean sweep in Rajasthan again with the party bagging all 25 seats along with its ally Rastriya Loktantrik Party in Lok Sabha election results declared on 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.

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.

Gehlot 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

In Dausa and Karauli-Dholpur, the margin of votes was less than one lakh.

In 2014-elections also, BJP had witnessed a clean sweep by winning all the seats with a vote share of 54.94 per cent but Congress had managed to win two lok sabha seats of Ajmer and Alwar in bypolls held last year.

BJP's Jaskaur Meena, who bagged Dausa seat by defeating Congress's Savita Meena with a margin of 78,444 votes, is the only woman to win in Rajasthan.

Rajyavardhan Rathore defeated Congress's Krishna Poonia, also an MLA), in Jaipur rural constituency.

In 2014, Rathore won the seat in with a margin of 3,32,896 votes and this time the margin increased to 3,93,171 votes.

BJP candidate Kailash Chaudhary, who has criminal background, won the Barmer seat with a margin of 3,23,808 votes.

Manvendra Singh, Rajput leader and son of BJP veteran Jaswant Singh, was defeated in Barmer seat. Singh had quit the BJP and joined the Congress ahead of assembly elections last year.

RLP candidate Hanuman Beniwal, who is also an RLP MLA, won Nagaur seat by a margin of 1,81,260 votes. He defeated Congress candidate and former MP Jyoti Mirdha.

Nagaur has been a Congress bastion which was represented by Jyoti's grandfather and prominent Jat leader Nathuram Mirdha six times since 1971. She also had to face defeat in 2014.

Two seers, Sumedhanand Saraswati (Sikar) and Baba Balaknath (Alwar) from the BJP, won.

Balaknath defeated Congress candidate and former MP Bhanwar Jitendra Singh, a member of erstwhile royal family, with a margin of 3,29,971 votes on Alwar seat.

BJP's Arjun Ram Meghwal, union minister of state and a former IAS officer, defeated his cousin and Congress candidate Madangopal Meghwal, a former IPS officer, in Bikaner.

Arjun Ram was elected for third consecutive time. In 2014, his winning margin was 3,08,079 which reduced to 2,64,081 in 2019.

Other BJP candidates who won elections are Bhagirath Chaudhary (Ajmer), Kanakmal Katara (Banswara), Subhash Chand Baheria (Bhilwara), Chandra Prakash Joshi (Chittorgarh), Rahul Kaswan (Churu), Sukhbir Singh (Tonk Sawaimadhopur), Arjun Lal Meena (Udaipur), Nihal Chand (Ganganagar), Ramcharan Bohra (Jaipur), Devji Patel (Jalore), Narendra Kumar (Jhunjhunu), Manoj Rajoria (Karauli-Dholpur) and Om Birla (Kota).

1.01 per cent of the total 4.88 crore voters used NOTA (None Of The Above) option.

As many as 249 candidates including 23 female candidates had contested the elections which took place in two phases in the state.

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