In Rajasthan: It's Ashok Gehlot versus Sachin Pilot for CM race

New Delhi, Dec 12: The Congress has emerged as the single-largest party in Rajasthan as it has been declared elected on 99 seats of the 199 that went to polls. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) got 73 seats whereas the Bahujan Samaj Party won six, the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) three, the Bhartiya Tribal Party won two, the CPI(M) two and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) one.

Rajasthan has a 200-member assembly, but polling on Alwar's Ramgarh constituency was postponed following the death of the BSP candidate.

As the Congress neared the majority mark of 100, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje submitted her resignation to Governor Kalyan Singh on December 11.

The state is now ready for its new CM, but who would it be?

After the results were declared in favour of Congress, the focus has now shifted on who would be the Congress choice for chief minister between two-time CM Ashok Gehlot and the party's state unit president Sachin Pilot.

Sometimes called Rajasthan's Gandhi for his simple lifestyle and mass connect, Gehlot has served as the chief minister of the state twice earlier. Now, after a gap of five years, the veteran could be back in the saddle as the CM of Rajasthan.

Sachin Pilot is also a strong contender for the post. In 2013, when the Congress faced its worst defeat, winning just 21 seats against the BJP's 163, party president Rahul Gandhi handed the reins of the state to the next gen-leader, a two-time parliamentarian and son of former leader Rajesh Pilot who died in 2000 in a road accident in Dausa. The youthful Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee president, Pilot has helped steer the Congress from the depths of defeat in 2013 to the highs of victory in Rajasthan.