The marginal difference resulted in a difference of 26 seats between the BJP (73) and the Congress (99)
A miniscule difference of 0.5% vote share has effected a change in the government in state bringing back the Congress in power after a hiatus of five years.
Even though the BJP, which was in power, has been reduced to 73 seats this time from the 163 seats it got in 2013, its vote share is just 0.5% less than what Congress managed to achieve in the polls that concluded on December 7.
While the Congress managed to corner 39.3% of the total votes polled in state, BJP which was facing anti-incumbency did unexpectedly well and managed to get frighteningly close to the party by notching up 38.8% votes. The marginal difference in the vote share however resulted in a difference of 26 seats between the winning and losing party. While the BJP managed to get 73 seats, the Congress raced to 99, just two short of the magical figure of 101 in the 200-member assembly.
This is not the first time, a government has swept into power by such a small margin. A similar episode had happened in 2008 when the BJP had lost to Congress and Ashok Gehlot had donned the mantle of chief minister for the second time. Even then, Vasundhara Raje was voted out of power by a difefrent of some 2.5 per cent in the vote share of the two parties.
In the elections held in 2008, the BJP’s vote share was 34.27%, while the Congress got 36.82% votes.
According to the political pundits, the contests between candidates are becoming close and the margins are dropping drastically leading to such a vast difference in the seat tally despite a small difference in the vote share.
BJP’ Rajendra Rathore defeated congress’ Rafique Mandelia in Churu by a margin of just 1850 votes. Sale Mohammed of Congress defeated BJP’s Mahant Pratappuri in Pokhran by 872 votes.BJP’s Jabbar Singh Sankhala defeated Manish Mewara in Asind by just 154 votes.
Blade Tunner
- 1850 The margin between BJP’s winner Rajendra Rathore and Congress’s Rafique Mandelia in Churu.
- 1704 Margin between BJP’s Kalicharan Saraf win and Congress’s Archana Sharma in Malviya Nagar.
- 872 The close margin of Congress’s Saleh Mohammed who defeated BJP’s Mahant Pratappuri in Pokhran.
- 154 The margin between BJP’s winner Jabbar Singh Sankhala and losing candidate Manish Mewara of Cong in Asind.
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