Congress sweeps polls

Turning the tables on the BJP in Rajasthan,the Congress picked up 19 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state while the BJP managed just four....

Turning the tables on the BJP in Rajasthan,the Congress picked up 19 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state while the BJP managed just four,a stellar improvement for the Congress from the 2004 Lok Sabha elections,when it had won just four seats. At the end of counting,the Congress won 19 and the BJP four,with one seat going to an Independent,while counting in Tonk-Sawai Madhopur was delayed after an EVM malfunctioned.

Rajasthan is one of the biggest-gain states for the Congress in 2009. Buoyed by its victory in the Assembly elections in December last year,the party managed to come tantalisingly close to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlots election slogan,Target 25. It even bagged the Jaipur city constituency for the first time since 1989.

According to Gehlot,it was the BJPs wholly negative campaign against the UPA that worked against the party in the end. A senior BJP leader said,Well the mandate is clear but we were not prepared for this result. We will sit together with the state leadership and analyse this defeat soon.

The Tonk-Sawai Madhopur constituency,where counting was delayed after an EVM from booth number 16 malfunctioned,is witnessing a battle between Union minister Namo Narain Meena and the face of the Gurjar agitation,Col Kirori Singh Bainsla from the BJP. According to the state election department,Meena held a scant lead of 472 votes before the EVM malfunctioned.

Just two sitting BJP MPs retained their seatsformer CM Vasundhara Rajes son Dushyant from Jhalawar and Ram Singh Kaswan from Churuwhile the losers in the BJP camp included bigwigs like former external affairs minister Jaswant Singhs son Manvendra from Barmer,five-time MP Rasa Singh Ravat from Rajsamandh and Mahila Morcha national president Kiran Maheshwari from Ajmer. Among the victorious from the Congress were Sachin Pilot from Ajmer,Girija Vyas from Chittodgarh,C.P Joshi from Bhilwara and Sisram Ola from Jhunjhunu.

Interestingly,three Congress candidates who lost the Assembly electionsC.P. Joshi,Lal Chand Kataria and Mahadev Singhin 2008,emerged victorious in the Lok Sabha elections,while three sitting BJP MLAs,Kiran Maheshwari,Ganshyam Tiwari and Rao Jaswant Singh,who contested the Lok Sabha polls,lost.

Independent candidate and veteran Meena community leader,Kirori Lal Meena,won against Qammar Rabbani in Dausa. After his expulsion from BJP before the Assembly polls,Meena contested as an Independent and supported the Gehlot government,but withdrew support after being denied a ticket from Dausa.