Election Results 2019: Congress Fails To Sustain Assembly Election Momentum

After victories in the heartland states and tougher-than-expected contest in Gujarat in the last assembly elections, the Congress was expected to put up a better fight against the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2019 general election. But India’s oldest party failed to keep up the momentum.

While BJP completely wipes put Congress in the states of Gujarat and Rajasthan, Rahul Gandhi’s party managed to grab only one seat in Madhya Pradesh and three in Chhattisgarh. Bharatiya Janata Party grabbed all the 26 seats in Gujarat and 25 seats in Rajasthan. The Narendra Modi-led party was leading in 28 of the 29 seats in Madhya Pradesh and eight of 11 seats in Chhattisgarh.

The BJP had a voter share of 62.1 percent, 58.4 percent, 58.2 percent and 50.8 percent in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, respectively, while the Congress had 32.2 percent, 34.3 percent, 34.5 percent and 40.8 percent.

The results came in line with the exit polls that predicted a clean sweep for the BJP in Rajasthan and Gujarat. The poll of polls had also expected the saffron party to win at least 25 seats in Madhya Pradesh and retain most of the parliamentary constituencies in Chhattisgarh.

The Congress had swept Chhattisgarh and ended one seat short of the halfway mark in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh each in the assembly election in 2018. In Gujarat assembly election in 2017, the BJP had won 99 of the 176 seats, while the Congress bagged the rest.

Overall, the National Democratic Alliance is leading in 354 seats in the 17th Lok Sabha election and the United Progressive Alliance in 88 seats. Individually, BJP raked in 304 seats, while Congress managed only 50.

Key Constituencies And Candidates

Rajasthan

• BJP candidate Rajyavardhan Rathore wins in Jaipur Rural constituency by close to 4 lakh votes. Congress’s Krishna Poonia trailed behind.

Madhya Pradesh

• BJP’s Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur won over Congress’s Digvijaya Singh by more than 3 lakh votes from Bhopal.

Chhattisgarh

• Congress’s Pramod Dubey lost the Raipur seat to BJP’s Sunil Kumar Soni with a margin of nearly 3.5 lakh votes.

Gujarat

• BJP President Amit Shah, who made a Lok Sabha election debut by replacing six-time MP LK Advani to fight from the Gandhinagar seat in Modi’s homeland, sweeped the seat by over 5.5 lakh votes.

Voter Turn Out In 2019

Rajasthan

• The state witnessed 68.2 percent turnout compared with 63.1 percent in 2014.

Madhya Pradesh

• The voter turnout stood at 74.9 percent against 61.6 percent in 2014.

Chhattisgarh

• The state saw a surge in voter turnout at 70.7 percent compared with 69.4 percent in 2014.

Gujarat

• It recorded 64.1 percent voter turnout against 63.7 percent in 2014.

What Happened In 2014 Lok Sabha Polls

Rajasthan

• The BJP had won all the 25 seats in Rajasthan.

Madhya Pradesh

• The BJP had won 27 of the 29 seats in Madhya Pradesh, while the Congress secured two.

Chhattisgarh

• The BJP had won 10 seats and the Congress got one.

Gujarat

• The BJP was victorious in all the 26 Lok Sabha seats.