Congress returns to power in Rajasthan

Yash Goyal 
Jaipur, December 11

Following the change of guard pattern every five years, the Congress on Tuesday returned very close to power winning 99 out of 199 assembly seats, leaving the BJP at 73 seats.  

The Congress contested on 195 seats and had alliance on five seats with RLD, LJD and NCP. Of the allies, only RLD candidate Subhash Garg won from Bharatpur which would increase the Congress tally to 100. 

Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje won her home constituency of Jhalarapatan by defeating his nearest rival of Congress Manvendra Singh, son of former union minister Jaswant Singh, by a margin of 34,980 votes, while Raje's 13 ministers and one sitting BJP MP lost the poll.

Congress' two probable CM faces - PCC president Sachin Pilot won the Tonk assembly seat by defeating his nearest rival of Yoonus Khan (BJP) by a margin of 54,861 votes, whereas former CM Ashok Gehlot won the Sardarpur assembly seat by defeating his BJP rival by over 40,000 votes. 

A sitting BJP MP Colonel Sona Ram who contested from the Barmer assembly seat lost against the Congress' Meva Ram Jain by margin of 33,047 votes. 

Raje's ministers Prabhulal Saini,  Amraram, Dr Ram Pratap, Otaram Devasi, Arun Chaturvedi, Gajendra Singh, Krishnendra Kaur Deepa, Yoonus Khan, Surendrapal TT, Ajay Singh Kilik, Srichand Kriplani, Susheel Katara and Rajpal Singh Shekhawat were the main losers against the Congress candidates. Three other ministers Surendra Goyal, Hem Singh Bhadana and Rajkumar Rinwa, who contested as rebels, also lost the poll.

Final tally (Poll held 199)

Congress     99

BJP               73 

BSP               06

CPM               02

IND                 13

Others            06

Congress' two sitting MPs Harish Meena (who recently joined the Congress) won the Deoli-Uniara seat by a margin of 21,416 votes, and Raghu Sharma (Ajmer MP) won form Kekari assembly seat by a margin of 18,277 votes. Another Congress leader C P Joshi won on the Nathdwara seat by defeating BJP's Mahesh by 16,940 votes.

Congress' Krishna Punia, first Indian woman track-and-field athlete who won an individual gold in the 2010 Commonwealth Games, defeated BSP's sitting MLA Manoj Nyangli on Sadulpur seat by over 18,084 votes.

Former BJP state president Ashok Parnami lost the Adarsh Nagar seat to the Congress' Rafeek Khan by a margin of 12,553 votes. Whereas BJP's N S Rajvi, son-in-law of former Vice President B S Shekhawat, won the Vidhyadhar Nagar seat by defeating the Congress candidate by a margin of 31,232 votes. Assembly Speaker Kailsah Meghwal retained his Sahahpura seat by defeating Congress Mahveer Prasad by a margin of 74,542 votes.

Six BJP Ministers Vasudev Devnani from Ajmer North, G C Kataria from Udaipur, Rajendra Singh Rathore from Churu, Pushpendra Singh from Bali, Kiran Maheshwari from Rajsamand and Anita Bhadel from Ajmer South retained their seats. 

Congress' prominent Jat leader Rameshwar Dudi, who was in running in the CM face race, lost the Nokha seat to the BJP's Biharilal by a margin of 8,663 votes. Congress' veteran woman leader Girija Vyas lost the Udaipur seat to the BJP Home Minister G C Kataria by a margin of 9,307 votes.  

BSP's six candidates Deepchand from Kishangarh-Bas, Sandeep Kumar from Tizara, Joginder Singh from Nadbai, Rajendra Singh Gudha on Udaipur Wati, Lakhan Singh from Karauli and Wajib Ali from Nagar seats have won the poll by defeating the Congress and BJP candidates. 

BTP's two candidates Ramkumar Roat from Chorasi seat, Ramprasad from Sagwara seat won, while CPM returned to Vidhan Sabha after five years as its Girdharilal on Dungargarh and Balwan on Bhadra seats snatched BJP's seats. 

Avinash Pandey, AICC general secretary and in-charge of party affairs, told a press conference that Congress Legislative Party (CLP) would meet here tomorrow at 11 am to discuss and evolve a consensus on CLP leader. The CLP's decision would be apprised to the Congress president later, and once again CLP would meet in the evening to announce the name of CM candidate, Pandey added.