Congress MLAsto go to the Governor's house in the evening to formally stake claim to form government.
Rajasthan had gone for polling in a single phase election on December 7. A political party needs to win at least 100 seats to secure a simple majority in the Legislative Assembly. Term of the current Assembly ends on January 20, 2019.
For more than 20 years, chief ministers of Rajasthan have been seeing the revolving door. None of the chief ministers in this period of time has managed to retain power. Will Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje be able to end this?
The single-phase voting happened after weeks of intense campaigning by state-level leaders including Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, Congress’ Sachin Pilot and Ashok Gehlot, and national level leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP National President Amit Shah and Congress President Rahul Gandhi. Leaders such as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also participated in the campaign.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has been in power in the state since 2013. Now, the saffron party and the incumbent chief minister is reportedly facing massive anti-incumbency. A resurgent Congress, led by former chief minister Ashok Gehlot and former union minister Sachin Pilot is hoping to out the BJP. BJP has however claimed that it is confident of winning the election.
In 2013, Vasundhara Raje won a stunning mandate, winning 163 out of the 200 seats. Congress had finished a distant second with just 21 seats. National People's Party (NPP) had won four seats and Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) had won three.
Congress MLAsto go to the Governor's house in the evening to formally stake claim to form government.
Rajasthan Congress MLAs to meet at 6.30 pm.
Rajasthan CM swearing-in to be held at 1.30 pm on December 17.
Congratulations to Ashok Gehlot ji & Sachin Pilot for taking up the responsibilities of CM and Deputy CM of Rajasthan respectively. Together, may they succeed in giving the people of Rajasthan the government they deserve.
Mera aur Ashok ji ka jadoo puri tarah chal gaya hai. Hum ab sarkar bana rahe hain.
I would like to thank Congress President Rahul Gandhi and other legislators for taking this decision to make Ashok Gehlot ji the Chief Minister of Rajasthan.
Sachin Pilot to be the Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan. He will also continue to be the Rajasthan Congress Chief.
State observer Avinash Pande confirms that final announcement at 4.30 pm today.
Ashok Gehlot andSachin Pilot are expected to reach Jaipur airport around 3.30 pm.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi is likely to hold a fresh round of discussions on Friday with Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot, the two chief ministerial aspirants in Rajasthan, before taking a final call for the top post.
The decision of Rajasthan's next chief minister is likely to be taken before noon and will be made public at a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) in state capital Jaipur, sources said.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi may take a final decision on the CM post of Rajasthan at around 11 am today. The decision is likely to come after a meeting with Sachin Pilot who has left his residence to meet Gandhi. The decision could come anytime after 11 AM, according to television reports.
