Months after voting Vasundhara Raje out, Rajasthan throws weight behind PM Modi

The results epitomised the slogan doing the rounds during Assembly elections last year: ‘Modi tujh se bair nahin, Rani teri khair nahin’ (Nothing against Modi, but the queen has had it).

Vasundhara Raje (left) with BJP state chief Madan Lal Saini in Jaipur. (Express photo: Rohit Jain Paras)

The BJP not only won all the 25 Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan, but also increased its margin in 20 seats — including one contested by an ally — and its overall vote share in the state. The BJP increased its vote share from 55.61 per cent in 2014 to over 58 per cent. This was also an increase over its voteshare of 38.8 per cent in the Assembly elections late last year.

The Congress, which won zero seats in 2014, had received 30.73 of the vote share then; this time it slightly improved it to 34.2 per cent. In the Assembly elections last year, it got 39.3 per cent of the total votes.

Election Results 2019 LIVE Updates

Explained

After Assembly win, the defeat

Among the prominent Congress candidates who suffered a defeat are Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s son Vaibhav Gehlot in Jodhpur, Olympian Krishna Poonia in Jaipur Rural, Jitendra Singh in Alwar and Manvendra Singh in Barmer. Lok Sabha elections results 2019: Full list of winners state-wise

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Congress insiders said the party expected to win at least seven seats, including Dausa, Tonk-Sawai Madhopur, Barmer, Karauli Dholpur, Sikar, Barmer and Jodhpur.

What worked for the BJP was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s focussed campaign around national security, terrorism, Pakistan and the cross border strikes. It was only towards the end of his speeches that the Prime Minister would list his government’s achievements in Ujjwala Yojana, Saubhagya Yojana, Jan Dhan, MUDRA, PM Awas Yojana, Swachh Bharat Mission, Soil Health Cards and Ayushman Bharat, etc.

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said, “While Congress president Rahul Gandhi contested the elections on the issue of development, Narendra Modi blew the model code of conduct to smithereens and contested the polls on religion, caste, and army’s valour.”

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For the Congress, Rahul’s campaign around the alleged corruption in Rafale deal and the NYAY scheme for farmers did not yield dividends. The party had hit the ground running after forming the government in the state and announced farm loan waiver, unemployment dole, etc. but these seem to have been unsuccessful in swaying the voters. The friction between the Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot camps also affected party’s prospects.

The results epitomised the slogan doing the rounds during Assembly elections last year: ‘Modi tujh se bair nahin, Rani teri khair nahin’ (Nothing against Modi, but the queen has had it).’ Five months after voting out Raje, the electorate threw its full weight behind Modi.

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