The Congress has contested the polls under Sachin Pilot and Ashok Gehlot's leadership. (File)
Highlights
- The Congress is set to win in Rajasthan, says the poll of exit polls
- The party is set to win 110 seats in the state
- Its rival, the BJP, is set to win 78 seats
Rajasthan is set to follow its tradition of throwing out the incumbent government according to the poll of exit polls on Friday, after the end of voting for five state elections. The results in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram will be announced on Tuesday December 11.
An aggregate of exit polls gives the BJP 78 of 199 seats that went to polls in Rajasthan and the Congress, 112. Any party has to win 100 to form government in the state.
For over two decades, the desert state has been a "revolving door"; it has thrown out the party in power.
Besides anti-incumbency, the BJP suffered a series of high-profile exits before the elections, including its founder-member Jaswant Singh's son Manvendra Singh, who is directly challenging Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje of the BJP in her constituency Jhalrapatan, which she has on thrice.
Here is what the poll of exit polls says
If the Congress wins, it will be forced to confront an issue it has been putting off for months - its chief ministerial candidate.
The party's old warhorse Ashok Gehlot, a former Rajasthan chief minister, has a rival for the top post - state Congress chief Sachin Pilot.
They both are contesting the polls held today.
"The high command will decide who will be Chief Minister," Ashok Gehlot told NDTV, calling questions on Sachin Pilot's credentials for the top job "hypothetical".
Sachin Pilot, asked the same question, said: "I don't know. My job was to win and we did. I really think I am a fortunate party president for getting the support of all leaders and workers in Rajasthan. For 70 years it has been the tradition that elected lawmakers choose the chief minister."
For now, he quipped, he would go for a "nice bath and go to sleep."
Last month, they addressed a joint press conference to announce that both would fight the polls.
Who among the two would contest the election had been the subject of much speculation as both were seen as the Congress's candidates for chief minister.
The party was seen to be reluctant to field either of them, if only to avoid the inevitable tussle for the Chief Minister's post.
Sachin Pilot was minister in the Manmohan Singh government but lost the 2014 Lok Sabha polls from Ajmer. Earlier this year, he did not contest the by-elections for the seat, which the Congress won by a huge margin.