Politics

Rajasthan: Congress Makes Strong Comeback in Lok Sabha Elections After 2014 and 2019 Defeats

After losing all of the state’s seats in the national elections held in 2014 and 2019, the Congress has made a strong comeback in Rajasthan’s Lok Sabha elections. Of the twenty-five seats in the state, it held eight of the seats, while its allies held three. One seat was won by the BJP, and it was leading in thirteen more.

Experts attributed the Congress’s reversal in part to better candidate selection. The party not only capitalized on the ire of the farmers but also overcame internal divisions to show a united front. The Congress expressed concerns about possible amendments to the Constitution and challenges to the quota system in order to garner support from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Communities.

The son of former chief minister Ashok Gehlot, Vaibhav Gehlot, lost the 2019 Jodhpur elections, but the Congress fielded most of the newcomers. Recommendations from experts indicate that Churu, Sikar, and Banswara benefited from the choice to award allies three seats.

In Rajasthan’s eastern and northern regions, where it also demonstrated its dominance in the 2023 assembly elections, the Congress did well, according to political analyst Manish Godha.

In the Shekhwati region, farmer issues were effective. Constitutional concerns proved effective for the Congress in eastern Rajasthan; caste- and religion-based polarization was ineffective this year. A significant contributing factor to this outcome is the decline in polling and disinterest among BJP and RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh] employees, which is the party’s ideological foundation.

According to Narayan Bareth, another analyst, people disapproved of polarization, and the larger problems were unemployment, inflation, and secularism.

According to Rajasthan Congress chairman Govind Singh Dotasra, people understood that the BJP is a party of liars and blessed them. “They have realized their error and made the necessary corrections after electing the BJP in the assembly polls.” He declared that there was no possibility of Narendra Modi becoming prime minister and that the federal government would be established by the coalition led by the Congress.

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Gehlot declared that Prime Minister Modi should step down immediately because the BJP did not secure 370 seats and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) did not secure 400 seats. In Modi’s honor, he said, the BJP had failed to achieve an overwhelming majority. He quoted Modi as saying that the NDA would secure 400 seats and the BJP 370.