It was on November 25, 2023, that the citizens of the largest state of the country, Rajasthan, went out to cast their votes. And on Sunday, December 3, the counting of the votes began early in the morning at 8 AM, and is continued since. Even though Rajasthan is divided into 200 Vidhan Sabha constituencies, the voting has taken place in 199 of them, as the Election Commission adjourned the elections in the Karanpur constituency of Sri Ganganagar district, following the death of Congress candidate, Gurmeet Singh Koonar.
It is a well-known fact in the political history of Rajasthan, that no one political party has ever secured two consecutive tenures in power in the state, the major players here being the BJP and the Congress. But this time, many had believed that there was neck to neck competition between the two parties, and hence, there were chances that history could be made with the returning of Congress to power once again. This was solely because of the multiple welfare schemes initiated by the Congress government in the state by the Chief Minister, Ashok Gehlot.
From restarting pensions for senior citizens, the Chiranjeevi Health Scheme offering free medicines and medical tests, to subsidized electricity and LPG cylinders, a significant supporters of the Congress claimed that they received these benefits and hence, were ready to bring the grand old party to power again.
But with the voting trends, it can clearly be seen that the people of Rajasthan are all about ‘Parivartan’ or change, making sure that the ruling party in the state changes every 5 years. As of now, the BJP has won 43 seats in the state and is leading on 72 of them.
On the other hand, the Congress has won 23 seats and is leading on 46 of them. 2 seats in the state have also been won by the Bharat Adivasi Party, and the party is leading on 1 of them. 1 seat has also been won by the Bahujan Samaj Party, and the BSP is leading on 1 seat currently. The Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP), founded by Hanuman Beniwal is leading on 2 seats, and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), is leading on 1 seat as well. 1 seat has also been won by an independent candidate, and independent candidates are leading on 6 other seats.
Some of the key seats won by the BJP in Rajasthan are Jhotwara (Colonel Rajyavardhan Rathore), Vidhyadhar Nagar (Diya Kumari), Ajmer South (Anita Bhadel), and Jhalrapatan (Vasundhara Raje). On the other hand, some of the important seats which the Congress has won are Tonk (Sachin Pilot), Anupgarh (Shimla Devi), and Kishan Pole (Amin Kagzi).
The 2 seats the Bharat Adivasi Party has won are Dharlawad (Thavar Chand), and Chorasi (Rajkumar Roat); the BSP has won the seat of Bari (Jaswant Singh Gurjar), and independent candidate Chandrabhan Singh Chouhan has won the constituency seat of Chittorgarh.
