rajasthan-elections

Updated: Dec 20, 2018 11:17 IST

After losing the Rajasthan assembly elections, the BJP has a reason to worry. The party has lost ground in all 25 Lok Sabha constituencies. Past trends also show that the party that wins the assembly elections also wins a majority of the Lok Sabha seats.

For the Congress, which drew a blank in the 2014 general elections, the win in the assembly polls has led to a gain across the parliamentary seats.

The general elections are four months away and 23 MPS of the BJP are on a sticky wicket. While the party’s performance has declined almost on all seats as against the 2013 elections, it has been particularly poor on 14 seats losing five or more seats – Jhunjhunu, Sikar, Jaipur Rural, Jaipur City, Alwar, Bharatpur, Karauli-dholpur, Dausa, Tonksawai Madhopur, Nagaur, Jodhpur, Pali, Barmer and Banswara.

The MPs on these seats will face a challenge to improve the performance in the general elections. Among them are Jaipur MP Ramcharan Bohra, Jaipur Rural MP Rajyavardhan Rathore, Jodhpur MP Gajendra Shekhawat, former Dausa MP Harish Chandra Meena who joined Congress prior to the elections, Jhunjhunu MP Santosh Ahlawat, Bharatpur MP Bahadur Koli, Nagaur MP CR Chaudhary, Tonk-sawai Madhopur MP Sukhbir Jaunapuria, Sikar MP Sumedhanand Saraswati, Karauli-dholpur MP Manoj Rajoriya, Pali MP PP Chaudhary, Barmer MP Col Sonaram, Banswara MP Manshankar Ninama.

In Alwar, MP Jaswant Yadav had contested the Alwar by-poll held in January, but lost to the Congress candidate.

Four of them are union ministers — Jaipur Rural MP Rajyavardhan Rathore is minister for information and broadcasting and minister of state (independent charge) youth affairs and sports, Jodhpur MP Gajendra Shekhawat is minister of state for agriculture and farmers’ welfare. Pali MP PP Chaudhary is minister of state for law and justice and corporate affairs, while Nagaur MP CR Chaudhary is minister of state for consumer affairs, food and public distribution.

Past trends show that the party that wins the assembly polls has an upper hand on the Lok Sabha polls too. In the 2008 assembly elections, the BJP won 120 seats and 21 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the general elections.

In the 2008 elections, the Congress won 96 seats and got 20 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats.

In 2013, the BJP won 163 assembly seats and ended-up with all 25 Lok Sabha seats in its kitty.

BJP spokesperson Mukesh Pareek said that while the BJP’S seats had declined, the vote share was only 0.5% less than the Congress.

“The party leaders and workers will learn a lesson from the loss and will work harder to improve our showing in the Lok Sabha polls,” he added.

Pareek said the assembly and Lok Sabha polls are different. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi continues to be the most popular leader and people will vote for him as they want a stable government and strong leadership.”