The BJP crossed the halfway mark in Rajasthan, with its candidates leading in 114 seats, while the Congress was ahead in 68, according to Election Commission trends available this morning for the assembly polls.
Referring to the results so far, Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat of the BJP took a jibe at incumbent Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot of the Congress, saying that people had come out of the spell of the “magician”.
“The ‘magic’ has ended and Rajasthan has come out of the spell of the magician. People have voted for the honour of women and for the welfare of the poor,” said Shekhawat.
Besides the two major rival parties, the information so far suggests that the Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) are leading in 3 seats each and the CPI(M) is leading in 1 seat. The Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) are leading in 1 seat each. Independent candidates are leading in 8 constituencies.
Gehlot was among the Congress candidates who were leading until this morning, though his party was trailing. The BJP minister called him a “magician” because the Congress chief minister was born into a family of magicians and assisted his father during his tours.
In other news, Sachin Pilot, a top Congress candidate, was leading in the Tonk seat with a slim margin of 943 votes, while BJP leader and former chief minister Vasundhara Raje was leading in the Jhalrapatan assembly seat with 7,025 votes. Shekhawat told reporters in Jaipur, “People have failed the guarantees of [the] Congress. They have voted to throw [the] corrupt Congress out.” He asserted that the BJP would be forming the government in the state with a huge mandate.