Early trends from Rajasthan suggest that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is leading in 24 out of 25 seats. In Nagaur, Hanuman Beniwal in alliance with the BJP is leading by a considerable margin. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's son, Vaibhav Gehlot is trailing from Jodhpur seat.
Several political experts had predicted that tribal voters to have polled in favour of the Congress. However, according to trends, the saffron party seems to have sweeped all parts of the state.
Rajasthan’s southernmost Lok Sabha constituency, Banswara-Dungarpur, is a vital seat in the Mewar-Vagad region. The seat reserved for Scheduled Tribes, which comprises 73% of the electorate, has always elected MPs from the Congress or the BJP. However, this time a third political force, a tribal-centric party, is challenging this norm. Founded by Chhotubhai Vasava, a Gujarati tribal leader, in 2017, the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) has surprised many in this area. Vasava was a JD(U) leader, but defected from the party over its tie-up with the BJP in Bihar in 2017.
2014 Lok Sabha election was a thumping victory for BJP in the state. The saffron party won all 25 seats 2014 Lok Sabha elections. However, assembly elections in the state gave Congress 100 seats and brought them to power in the legislative assembly.
Follow all the live updates of Lok Sabha election results here: Lok Sabha Election Results 2019 LIVE: Will Modi Get Second Term as PM Or Will NDA Fall Short? India to Have Final Say Today
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Here are the key things to look out for in Rajasthan:
- Counting in Barmer, Jaisalmer has pegged BJP candidate Kailash Choudhary in the lead with close to 1,70,000 votes.
- Hanumian Beniwal is leading in Nagaur.
- Congress yet to register any leads.
- As counting begins, early trends suggest that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is leading in 17 seats in Rajasthan. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's son, Vaibhav Gehlot is trailing from the Jodhpur seat.
Read: Will Ashok Gehlot's Efforts to See His Son Vaibhav Rise in Jodhpur Payoff?
- Ashok Gehlot represented Jodhpur five times in parliament before finally moving into state politics and taking over the reins of the Rajasthan Congress. Vaibhav Gehlot will take on former BJP Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in what is expected to be a key political battle.
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- A little west of Jodhpur is Barmer, which will have Manvendra Singh - son of former Union Minister Jaswant Singh - taking up the Congress' mantle. Manvendra Singh had quit the BJP, of which his father is a founding member, following differences with former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje. Riding on the Rajput community's anger against Raje for denying his father a ticket in the 2014 elections, Manvendra Singh had famously coined the phrase - "Kamal Ki Phool, Hamari Bhool (Picking the Lotus, Our mistake)" - at a rally in Pachpadra last September. He joined the Congress a month later, reportedly on an assurance that he would get the Barmer ticket.
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- Rajasthan’s southernmost Lok Sabha constituency, Banswara-Dungarpur, is a vital seat in the Mewar-Vagad region. The seat reserved for Scheduled Tribes, which comprises 73% of the electorate, has always elected MPs from the Congress or the BJP. However, this time a third political force, a tribal-centric party, is challenging this norm. Founded by Chhotubhai Vasava, a Gujarati tribal leader, in 2017, the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) has surprised many in this area. Vasava was a JD(U) leader, but defected from the party over its tie-up with the BJP in Bihar in 2017.
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- The Bharatiya Janata Party in Rajasthan’s Nagaur tried to make most of the affinity young Jat voters have for Hanuman Beniwal, Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) leader and MLA from Khinvsar, by fielding him against former MP Jyoti Mirdha. However, the aggressive Jat leader who had won two seats in the assembly polls last year, denouncing the very party which he has now allied with - the BJP – had made some saffron party loyalists uncomfortable.
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-An old adage in Rajasthan says, “whoever wins Mewar, wins the state.” Therefore in order for Congress to make a dent to BJP’s rampage, the grand old party needs to gain ground in South Rajasthan’s Mewar. In 2014, the BJP won all five (the party won all 25 Lok Sabha seats of the state). This was preceded by the BJP’S landslide in the assembly elections when the party won 163 seats in the house of 200. In Mewar’s 35 seats, BJP had won 31. In the last ten years, Congress has managed to win Mewar only once. In 2009, the Congress won all 5 after the party came to power in the state in 2008. The party won 24 seats in Mewar in the assembly elections.