Turning the tables on the BJP in Rajasthan, the Congress picked up 19 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state while the BJP managed just four, a stellar improvement for the Congress from the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, when it had won just four seats. At the end of counting, the Congress won 19 and the BJP four, with one seat going to an Independent, while counting in Tonk-Sawai Madhopur was delayed after an EVM malfunctioned.

Rajasthan is one of the biggest-gain states for the Congress in 2009. Buoyed by its victory in the Assembly elections in December last year, the party managed to come tantalisingly close to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s election slogan, “Target 25”. It even bagged the Jaipur city constituency for the first time since 1989.

According to Gehlot, it was the BJP’s “wholly” negative campaign against the UPA that worked against the party in the end. A senior BJP leader said, “Well the mandate is clear but we were not prepared for this result. We will sit together with the state leadership and analyse this defeat soon.”

The Tonk-Sawai Madhopur constituency, where counting was delayed after an EVM from booth number 16 malfunctioned, is witnessing a battle between Union minister Namo Narain Meena and the face of the Gurjar agitation, Col Kirori Singh Bainsla from the BJP. According to the state election department, Meena held a scant lead of 472 votes before the EVM malfunctioned.

Just two sitting BJP MPs retained their seats—former CM Vasundhara Raje’s son Dushyant from Jhalawar and Ram Singh Kaswan from Churu—while the losers in the BJP camp included bigwigs like former external affairs minister Jaswant Singh’s son Manvendra from Barmer, five-time MP Rasa Singh Ravat from Rajsamandh and Mahila Morcha national president Kiran Maheshwari from Ajmer. Among the victorious from the Congress were Sachin Pilot from Ajmer, Girija Vyas from Chittodgarh, C.P Joshi from Bhilwara and Sisram Ola from Jhunjhunu.

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