Despite assembly debacle, BJP gets over 58 per cent vote share in Rajasthan

Jaipur, May 23: The BJP, which won 24 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan where it had lost the 2018 assembly polls to the Congress, saw its vote share increase from 54.94 per cent in 2014 to 58.5 per cent in this general election.

The saffron party had contested on 24 seats and its ally Rastriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) on one seat, which it won.

The Congress, which could not win a single Lok Sabha constituency in the desert state, also witnessed an increase in vote share from 30.36 per cent in 2014 to 34.2 per cent this time, according to Election Commission data.

The vote share of the BJP and the Congress increased by 3.56 and 3.84 percentage points respectively.

The BSP, CPI, CPM saw a fall in vote share by 1.27, 0.12 and 0.09 percentage points respectively as compared to 2014, according to EC data.

Prime minister Narendra Modi conducted eight rallies while Congress president Rahul Gandhi addressed nine rallies during the Lok Sabha elections in the state, but the Congress failed to open its account.

The winning margin on 20 seats increased and on five seats, it decreased as compared to 2014.

The increase in the winning margin is over 3 lakh for the Bhilwara seat.BJP's Subhash Chandra Baheria won with a margin of 6,12,000 votes. In 2014, he won this seat with a margin of 2,46,264 votes.

The EC data said an increase from 2 to 3 lakh in the vote margin was also registered in Ajmer, Barmer, Banswara, Chittorgarh and Udaipur Lok Sabha seats.

The Ganganagar, Jhalawar-Baran, Rajsamand and Nagaur seats also saw an increase in the winning margins in comparison to that in 2014.

In Nagaur, BJP's alliance partner RLP contested and its candidate Hanuman Beniwal won with a margin of 1,81,260 votes, which is 1.06 lakh more than the winning margin of 2014.

The seats where the winning margin decreased are Bikaner, Jaipur, Jalore, Jodhpur and Tonk.

Union ministers of State Arjun Ram Meghwal and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat contested and won the Bikaner and Jodhpur seats respectively.

Shekhawat, who had won the seat in 2014 with a margin of 4.10 lakh votes, this time emerged victorious with a margin of 2.74 lakh votes.

Rahul Gandhi, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Deputy Chief Minister and Congress party president Sachin Pilot conducted rallies and intense campaign, but couldn't get the electorate to vote for the party.

Whereas PM Modi held rallies in Chittorgarh, Barmer, Udaipur, Jodhpur, Jaipur, Karauli-Dholpur, Sikar and Bikaner constituencies, Rahul was in Dungapur, Ajmer, Jalore, Kota, Karauli-Dholpur, Churu, Jaipur rual, Sikar and Bharatpur constituencies during the election campaign.