Rajasthan Assembly elections: BJP and Congress numbers in 2013

In 2013, the BJP has won the 200-seat Assembly by a massive margin winning 163 seats, while the Congress was way behind with a mere 21 seats in its kitty.

The Election Commission will on Saturday announce the dates for the upcoming assembly elections in the state. While the Bharatiya Janata Party is desperately trying to keep in the state in its kitty, the Congress is leaving no stone unturned to hit out at Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia and list out her alleged failures in the last five years of her tenure in the state.

In 2013, the BJP has won the 200-seat Assembly by a massive margin. The saffron party had bagged 163 seats, while the Congress was way behind with a mere 21 seats in its pocket. The Bahujan Samaj Party had won three seats, National People’s Party and National Unionist Zamindara Party won four and two seats respectively while the Independents bagged seven seats.

Parties	Seats won
Bahujan Samaj Party	3
Bharatiya Janata Party	163
Independent	7
Indian National Congress	21
National People’s Party	4
National Unionist Zamindara Party	2

Out of the 200 constituencies, 142 were categorised as general seats, 33 as SC and 25 as ST seats. There were at least four contestants in every constituency and above 15 contestants in over 31 seats. 

At 47223 polling stations, 30,270,703 valid votes were polled on the election day in 2013 with an average of 865 voters exercising their franchise at every polling station. 

Out of the 2096 candidates who had fought the elections, 1930 were males while 166 were females. Deposits of 1641 candidates had been forfeited in the last elections. 

Of the national parties that fought the polls, the vote percentage of the BJP was 45.50 per cent followed by Congress with a vote percentage of 33.31 per cent. CPI, BSP and NCP got 1.47 per cent, 3.48 per cent and 2.88 per cent respectively. 

Gaining a foothold in the state is key for the BJP ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in 2019. The importance that the state holds for the BJP can be judged by how Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah are steering the poll campaign in the state.

On the other hand, Congress led by party president Rahul Gandhi has launched a no-bars attack on the BJP by countering their development claims. Congress has also been hinting at a rift within the BJP claiming that Amit Shah and Vasundhara Raje are not sharing the dais in the poll related events in the state.

Just months ahead of the 2019 polls, the results to the elections in Rajasthan as well as Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram and Telangana will be crucial for both the national parties- the BJP and the Congress.