Rajasthan Assembly Election 2018

Rajasthan saw the Congress make a comeback. The state proved true to the 20-year-old tradition of voting out the ruling party. The Congress, which is just short of the halfway mark of 100 of the 199 seats where the election was held, saw its ally Rashtriya Lok Dal winning one seat. The BJP won 73 seats. The BSP won six seats and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) won 2 seats. The two parties had fought against both Congress and BJP.

Single phase voting for the Rajasthan Assembly Election 2018 was held on December 7. There are 200 assembly constituencies in Rajasthan. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had won 163 seats and the Congress 23 seats in the 14th assembly election held in 2013. Elections in Rajasthan have been a two-party affair—the BJP and Congress.

Vasundhara Raje had been the chief minister of the state for the full term of 5 years. She was also the chief minister from 2003 to 2008. In 2008, the BJP lost the elections and Congress party made its veteran leader Ashok Gehlot the chief minister of Rajasthan. In 2013, the BJP returned with a massive mandate and Vasundhara Raje again took the leadership of the state. While the Congress is pinning its hope on massive anti-incumbency factor against the BJP government in Rajasthan, the BJP can't afford to lose the state that elects 25 Lok Sabha members. Currently, the BJP has 23 Lok Sabha seats and the Congress just 2. Six months before the Lok Sabha General Elections, the Rajasthan Assembly polls outcome is bound to impact both the parties' plank for the Lok Sabha. If Congress wins, it will lift its spirit, it would be a comeback for that party that has been on the losing streak just before the Lok Sabha polls. In the recently held Karnataka Assembly polls, the Congress had to play the second fiddle just to keep the BJP out of power in the state. It accepted Janata Dal (Secular)'s HD Kumaraswamy as the chief minister in the coalition that was formed after the result despite having more seats than the JD(S). In Rajasthan, a win for the Congress would give it some gunpowder to take on the mighty BJP in other upcoming elections.

Since 1990, six assembly elections were held in Rajasthan, BJP formed the government four times and Congress ruled the state two times. Congress leader Ashok Gehlot was the chief minister of the state from 1998 to 2003 and 2008 to 2013. He remains the top contender for the top position this time too. Having served the state as its chief minister for two full terms, Vasundhara Raje was the tallest BJP leader.