Rajasthan assembly election: Only 9 of 25 Gehlot’s ministers win
CM Gehlot, who remained a five-time MLA from Jodhpur’s Sardarpura seat since 1998, retained his stronghold for the sixth time, defeating the BJP’s fresh face– JNVU professor Mahendra Rathore at over 26,000 votes
Only nine out of 25 contesting ministers, including the chief minister Ashok Gehlot in the outgoing cabinet, managed to win while only three out of seven contesting Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs lost the battle in the state assembly election held on November 25, with results declared on Sunday.
CM Gehlot, who remained a five-time MLA from Jodhpur’s Sardarpura seat since 1998, retained his stronghold for the sixth time, defeating the BJP’s fresh face– JNVU professor Mahendra Rathore at over 26,000 votes. However, Gehlot’s margin of victory fell to half compared to 2018.
Meanwhile, the nine ministers in Gehlot’s cabinet who bagged a victory despite the party’s defeat on Sunday include– Tikaram Jully from Alwar Rural, Shanti Dhariwal from Kota North, Murari Lal Meena from Dausa, Arjun Bamaniya from Banswara, Mahendrajeet Malviya from Bagidora, Brijendra Ola from Jhunjhunu, Ashok Chandna from Hindoli, and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) leader Subhash Garg from Bharatpur.
State’s social justice and prison minister and two-time MLA Jully defeated BJP’s Jairam Jatav with over 27,000 votes and the parliamentary affairs minister and three-time MLA Dhariwal defeated BJP’s Prahlad Gunjal with a close margin of only 2,486 votes, reducing the 2018’s figure of over 20,000 votes.
State tribal affairs minister Bamaniya has also managed to seal victory after a neck-to-neck race with BJP’s Dhan Singh Rawat, while technical education minister Subhash Garg won with a margin of mere 5,000 votes. It is also the first time these four ministers retained their seats in consecutive two elections.
State tourism and agricultural marketing minister Murari Lal Meena won against BJP’s Shankar Lal Sharma with over 30,000 votes.
Meanwhile, the state transport minister and three-time MLA Ola retained his stronghold in Jhunjhunu for the fourth time, defeating BJP’s Nisheet Kumar with nearly 30,000 votes.
State sports and youth affairs minister Chandna and water resource minister Malviya have also maintained their victories in their respective seats.
The 17 cabinet ministers who lost to the BPJ include– minority affairs minister Saleh Muhammed in Pokaran, women and child development minister Mamata Bhupesh in Sikarai, state education minister Zahida Khan lost in Kaman, higher education minister Rajendra Yadav in Kotputli, rural development minister Ramesh Meena in Sapotra, state education minister Bulaki Das Kalla lost in Bikaner West, civil supplies minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas in Civil Lines, commerce and trade minister Shakuntala Rawat in Bansur, and civil aviation minister Vishvendra Singh lost in Deeg-Kumher.
Five of the six advisors to CM– Sanyam Lodha (Sirohi), Rajkumar Sharma (Nawalgarh), Babu Lal Nagar (Dudu), Danish Abrar and Niranjan Arya (former chief secretary) are also trailing.
The BJP in its first list of candidates in October had fielded seven sitting MPs of which four emerged victorious while three had to face defeat.
Rajsamand MP Diya Kumari bagged the biggest victory among these seven, defeating Congress’s Sitaram Agrawal with over 70,000 votes in Jaipur’s Vidhyadhar Nagar seat.
Jaipur rural MP Rajyavardhan Rathore won the Jhotwara seat, defeating Congress candidate and NSUI president Abhishek Chaudhary with over 50,000, Rajya Sabha MP Kirodi Lal Meena won the Sawai Madhopur seat, defeating sitting Congress MLA Danish Abrar with over 22,000 votes, while Alwar MP Baba Balaknath defeated Congress’s Imran Khan with over 6,000 votes.
Jhunjhunu MP Narendra Kumar, who remained a two-time MLA from the Mandawa seat lost to Congress’s Rita Chaudhary with over 18,000 votes.
Meanwhile, the Ajmer MP Bhagirath Chaudhary and Jalore MP Devji Patel finished the battle in third position from both their seats in Kishangarh and Sanchore, respectively.
Patel lost to his party’s rebel Jeevaram Chaudhary with over 64,000 votes while Bhagirath Chaudhary also lost to another party’s rebel Vikas Chaudhary with over 45,000 votes. Vikas had joined the Congress a few days ahead of the polling after being denied a ticket by the BJP.
