Rajasthan Elections: Congress' Perennial Struggle To Surpass 40 Per Cent Vote Share

As the early trends of the Rajasthan assembly election come in, a historical trend seems to persist, apart from that of booting out the incumbent government — the Congress party grappling to surpass the 40 per cent vote share mark.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), underlining its dominance, is on the verge of displacing the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government.

The current results indicate the BJP leads with 112 seats, while the Congress trails with around 72 seats. The vote share of the BJP is 42.03 per cent, while of Congress is 39.27 per cent.

Interestingly, the Congress has been consistently unable to breach the 40 per cent vote share threshold in Rajasthan since 1998, barely reaching the 100-seat mark in the 2018 assembly elections.

In 1998, the Congress secured a formidable victory with 153 seats and a vote share exceeding 40 per cent. However, over the years, the party's vote share has dwindled.

Even during their successful campaign in 2008, where Congress emerged victorious, the party garnered a vote share of 36.82 per cent with 96 seats.

In 2013, BJP rode to power with 163 seats and vote share of 45.17 per cent whereas Congress was reduced to mere 21 seats with vote share shrunk to 33.07 per cent.

In 2018, when the Congress came back to power in the state, it was only able to poll 39.30 per cent vote share.