JAIPUR: Rajasthan that was seen as the only state where the Congress looked favourite to form the government sprung a surprise when it barely gave a majority to the party in election results declared on Tuesday. The Congress won 99 seats, while its pre-poll ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) won another seat, giving the alliance the minimum 100 seats required to stake claim for government formation. Contrary to exit poll predictions, the BJP survived a Congress whiplash by winning a respectable figure of 73 seats.Of the 200 assembly seats in the seat, 199 went to polls on December 7. Election on the Ramgarh seat in Alwar district was cancelled due to death of BSP candidate. The BSP has won six seats — double the number it won in 2013 state polls. The party might ally with Congress, which has already started looking for post-poll alliances in the state.Outgoing chief minister Vasundhara Raje won from Jhalrapatan, defeating Congress’ Manvendra Singh with a comfortable margin of nearly 35,000 votes. Congress’ potential CM candidates Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot too won easily, defeating their BJP rivals Shambhu Singh Khetasar and Yoonus Khan, respectively.Congres supporters at gandhi circleRaje conceded defeat and tendered resignation to Governor Kalyan Singh late Tuesday night. “I accept the people’s mandate. I am proud of the work done by the BJP party workers in the state and am hopeful that the new government will take it forward,” she later told reporters.The Congress leaders still called it a big victory for their party. “This is a grand victory. We are forming government in three states. The way Congress president Rahul Gandhi tackled PM Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah in Gujarat, the graph of Congress is going up and the graph of Modi is constantly going down,” said Ashok Gehlot, the former chief minister and AICC general secretary.Sachin pilot at his residenceAt the same time, Gehlot talked about forging post-poll alliances with other parties to keep BJP out of power in the states. “We will get the required majority, still we will take along other candidates or parties, except BJP, to form governments,” Gehlot said, while the counting of votes was still on till late night.Pilot said, “Anybody who has fought against the BJP ideology in these elections, anyone who wants to form a secular, hardworking people’s government will certainly come forward and support the Congress. I am in touch with most of these people who have won.”CM Raje submits resignation to guv kalyan singhOf the 13 independent candidates who have won, six are ex-MLAs of Congress while three are Congress rebels and two were Congress ticket-seekers. Just two independents — Om Prakash Hudla (Mahuwa, Dausa) and Suresh Tak (Kishangarh, Ajmer) — are BJP rebels.The CPM managed to win two seats — Dungargarh (Bikaner) and Bhadra (Hanumangarh). Its stalwart Amra Ram, who led the farmers’ agitation in Shekhawati region, lost to Congress’ Virendra Chaudhary, son of former PCC chief Narayan Singh.Newly launched Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) led by Hanuman Beniwal won three seats. Beniwal retained his Khinvsar seat, while Indra Devi won from Merta (Nagaur) and Pukhraj won from Bhopalgarh (Jodhpur). The Gujarat-based Bharatiya Tribal Party, which has contested for the first time in Rajasthan, pocketed two ST seats, Chorasi and Sagwara, in Dungarpur district.Of the five seats that Congress left for its allies, just one seat was won by alliance. Subhash Garg of Rashtriya Lok Dal won from the Bharatpur seat.PCC chief Pilot said, “People have suffered a lot in last five years, and despite all the pressures and misuse of resources by the BJP, the people have given a mandate against it. The BJP got 163 seats in 2013, but this time they have close to 100 seats. The Congress had 21 seats but today we crossed the halfway mark. It is victory for the people. For us the most important thing now is to form a government that is not just a Congress government but a people’s government.”

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