Rajasthan elections: BJP leads in 115 of 199 seats, Congress distant second

The Bharatiya Janata Party is leading in 115 of 199 seats in Rajasthan with the Congress ahead in 69 constituencies, according to Election Commission data on Sunday as of 4.36 pm.

Rajasthan went to polls on November 25, pitting the incumbent Congress government led by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot against the Bharatiya Janata Party and a plethora of smaller parties and Independent candidates, who could again be kingmaker if neither of the principal players gets a majority.

Currently, Gehlot is leading against BJP candidate Mahendra Rathore with a margin of 26,396 in the Sardarpura constituency, which the incumbent chief minister has held since 1998.

Two-time Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, who is fighting from Jhalrapatan for the fifth time, won against Congress’ Ramlal with a margin of 53,193.

BJP candidate and Rajsamand MP Diya Kumari, who is a member of the erstwhile Jaipur royal family, won the Vidhyadhar Nagar seat, by a margin of 71,368 votes.

Since 1993, Rajasthan politics has followed a template in which the incumbent gets voted out in every Assembly election. According to exit polls, the desert state is likely to follow the anti-incumbency trend, dashing Gehlot’s hopes. Most exit polls have projected the BJP to get above 100 seats in the 200-member House.

In the 2018 Assembly elections, the Congress...

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