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Congress wins historic 150 seats in Rajasthan

The Congress has matched the 21-year-old record of 150 seats in the 200-member Rajasthan assembly, set by the Janata Party in 1977.

All the 197 results have been declared, with the election in three constituencies -- Bhim, Kumbhalgarh and Mundwa -- countermanded.

The Bharatiya Janata Paty has bagged 33 seats, the Janata Dal three, the Bahujan Samaj Party two, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Communist Party of India-Marxist one each. Independents have captured seven seats.

This is the third time the Congress has attained a two-thirds majority in the state assembly -- it did this first in 1972 followed by 1980.

Only 11 of Chief Minister Bhairon Singh Shekhawat's 39 ministers survived the debacle. Among the ministers who won the poll were Bhanwar Lal Sharma from Jaipur's Hawa Mahal, V P Singh from Aasind, Nand Lal Meena from Pratapgarh, Dr Ram Pratap from Haumangarh and Sonwar Lal Jati from Bhinai.

Among the 28 ministers humbled in the poll were Deputy Chief Minister Hari Shankar Bhabra, Home Minister Kailash Meghwal from Shahpura, Higher Education Minister Lalit Kishore Chaturvedi and Energy Minister Ghanshyam Tiwari from Chomu.

The BJP received the first drubbing from its stronghold in the Pink City when two of its nominees lost to the Congress as the counting process ended swiftly in the five constituencies where electronic machines had been utilised. The party retained only one seat in the state capital.

The state sees the Congress back in power after eight years.

Chief Minister Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, who tendered his resignation on Saturday evening, won his Bali assembly seat recording his membership in all the eleven Houses in the state since 1952.

Former Congress chief minister Shiv Charan Mathur (Mandalgarh) and leader of the Opposition in the outgoing assembly Parasram Maderna (Bhopalgarh) won with impressive margins.

Shekhawat regretted that the people did not heed the BJP's stand that development was the main issue. Rajasthan Pradesh Congress president Ashok Gehlot said the people were dissatisfied with the BJP government's ''failure on all fronts.''

Gehlot did not agree that the BJP suffered due to the anti-incumbency factor. He said the people were against the BJP for its ''total misrule''.

Some Winners:

Seat           Winner               Loser           Margin

Masuda	    Haji Kayyum Khan     Prahlad Sharma       1,500
            INC                  BJP

Amer        Sahded Sharma        Gopi Ram Jat        10,344
            INC                  BJP
		
Ganganagar  Radhey Shyam         Surendra Rathore     6,587
            INC                  Ind

Chomu       Bhagwan Sahai        Ghansyam Tiwari     51,063
            INC                  BJP

Salumber    Roop Lal             Phool Chand         11,693
            INC                  BJP

Sarada      Raghuveer Meena      Nand Lal            28,456
            INC                  BJP

Sursagar    Bhanwar Balai        Mohan Meghwal       24,512
            INC                  BJP

Bilara      Rajendra Chaudhary   Ram Narain Dudi     13,750
            INC                  BJP

Jodhpur     Jugal Kabra          Surya Kanta Vyas    10,918
            INC                  BJP

Chautan     Abdul Hadi           Bhagwan Das         20,000
            INC                  BJP

Mandalgarh  Shiv Charan Mathur   Badri Prasad        16,605
            INC                  BJP

Banera      Ram Lal Jat          Parakram Singh      10,997
            INC                  BJP

Bhilwara    Devendra Singh       Ramrichhpal Noowal  22,000
            INC                  BJP

Shergarh    Khet Singh Rathore   Nandhar Singh        1,289
            INC                  BJP

Osian       Narendra S Bhati     Raghvendra P Singh  18,758
            INC                  BJP

Sikrai      Mahendra Meena       Ramkrishna Meena    15,010
            INC                  BJP

Hawa Mahal  Bhanwar Lal Sharma   R C Shah
            BJP                  INC

Sikar       Rajendra Pareek      Prem Singh          18,967
            INC                  BJP

Bali        B S Shekhawat        Umeed Singh          7,600
            BJP                  INC

Jaisalmer   Govardhan Kalla      Shyam Singh         15,962
            INC                  Ind

Aasind      V P Singh            Nanoram
            BJP                  INC

Jamai (ST)  Tejilal Saryam       Mansaram Badica     19,967
            INC                  BJP

Shahpura    Devi Lal             Kailash Meghwal      5,100
            INC                  BJP

Desuri (BC) Atma Ram             Meghwal Achala Ram   4,551
            INC                  BJP
 
Pindwara    Lal Ram Garasia      Prabhu Ram          13,732
            INC                  BJP

Khandela    Mahadeo Singh        Bansidhar           18,585
            INC                  BJP
 
Hindon (SC) Bharosi Yadav        Kalu Ram             6,809
            INC                  Ind

Shed        Amin Khan            Hari Singh          19,317
            INC                  BJP
 
Pachpadra   Amaararam            Madan Kaur           3,427
            BJP                  INC

Neem-ka-    M Modi               R Khandelwal         1,039
thana       INC                  Ind

Laxmangarh  P Mordia             K G Baber           11,108
            INC                  BJP

Assembly Election '98

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