Jaipur, Dec 04: Rajasthan’s “daughter-in-law” Vasundhara Raje Scindia is all set to take over the reign of power as the BJP swept the assembly elections bagging 120 of the 200 seats. In its best-ever performance in the state, the BJP has won 120 seats, a gain of 86 seat from the last assembly elections in 1998. The party enjoyed 39 per cent of the vote-share. It had a swing of 5.77 per cent in its favour.
Congress, on the other hand, lost a lot of ground. It claimed 56 seats, 96 less than the last assembly. The party had a negative swing of 11 per cent. However, in terms of vote-share, the Congress was not much behind BJP, with 34 per cent people voting in its favour.
Although, the assembly election has turned out to be a direct contest between the Congress and BJP, a modest 24 seats have gone to other parties and independents. Even as celebrations have begun in BJP camp, the Congress is gearing up for an introspection exercise. Anti-incumbency factor seems to have worked against the party, as also the key issues of corruption cases against its leaders. Another reason for Congress’ defeat in Rajasthan is its lacklustre campaigning. While BJP had crowd-pullers like Narendra Modi besides the Prime Minister himself, addressing election rallies in the state, Congress just relied on party leader Sonia Gandhi’s charisma to woo the voters.
Meanwhile, jubilant over BJP`s performance, Party General Secretary Pramod Mahajan said the victory was unexpected.
"It is for the first time in the history of Rajasthan that BJP has managed to cross the 100 seat mark," he said.
Mahajan credited the victory to people of the state and party leader Vasundhara Raje.
"The strategy was to have Raje as a leader, who represented women and not any caste in the caste laden elections of the state," he said.
Mahajan further added that the Rathyatra and Jat Sabha had worked for the party in the state. Bureau Report