Rajasthan Assembly Elections 2023: Congress accepts defeat, Gehlot to resign as Chief Minster

 Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Sunday accepted the Congress’ defeat in the Assembly elections, and he is expected to meet Governor Kalraj Mishra to resign as CM. As per media report,  Gehlot will submit his resignation to Governor Kalraj Mishra at 5.30 p.m. Gehlot said that “we respect the mandate”.However, Gehlot’s loyalist and minister PS Khachariyawas said that the CM will not be resigning today. The minister said: “Gehlot will go to Delhi at 5.30 pm and discuss about the opinion of 102 MLAs to the central leadership of the party. His visit to Delhi was planned beforehand.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has asserted dominance in Rajasthan, with leads in over 100 seats in the state. It has already sealed a win in 20 seats, while Congress has claimed 7 seats out of the 199 constituencies. As of now, the results of 30 seats have been out, as per the Election Commission website. The spotlight now intensifies on the BJP's choice for the next chief minister in the state. Notable victories include BJP's Vasundhara Raje who won the Jhalrapata assembly constituency and Diya Kumari from Vidgyadhar Nagar. Baba Balaknath won from Tijara, Kirodi Meena from Sawai Madhopur, and Mahant Pratap Puri from Pokaran. Even BJP rebels such as Yoonus Khan and Ravindra Singh Bhati emerge as prominent figures among the ten independent candidates who are securing victories. Rajasthan has seen a trend of rotating governments every five years - a phenomenon since 1993. In this case, the Congress party is striving to retain power against a resurgent BJP.