Congress has exited with results of Rajasthan Panchayat Election 2015
Out of 295 Panchayat Samitis, BJP clinched 41 while Congress sailed through in 31. The Panchayati Raj polls were held in three phases, where 3 crore and 27 lakh voters of State voted for members of 33 district councils and Panchayat Samiti.
Of the 6,236 seats in the Samitis, BJP won 937, Congress 740, Independents 124 and BSP five seats, a spokesman of the state Election Commission said. BJP won 174 out of 1,014 Zila Parishad wards while Congress secured 144 and Independents 3. The counting of votes began at 8 AM.
It was the first major electoral test for the parties after the Lok Sabha elections eight months ago when BJP had won all 25 seats. In bypolls held in September last year, BJP had lost three out of four Assembly seats. However, in Civic Bodies polls, BJP had edge over the Opposition Congress by security 4 municipal corporations and scores of municipal bodies late last year.
Panchayat polls were mired in controversy as Rajathan government had issued an ordinance fixing educational qualifications for candidates just days before the poll schedule was announced.
While, over the victory of several Congress candidates PCC chief Sachin Pilot today said that party's vote percentage has increased by at least 15 per cent which was more than satisfactory for him.
"Initial results show that the vote percentage of Congress has increased by 15 per cent while ruling BJP's declined by 9 per cent in the Panchayat elections as compared to the vote share of 2014-Lok Sabha elections," Pilot told reporters at PCC here.
"This is unusual, and clearly shows that people in rural Rajasthan have given vote against the BJP's bad governance. It is a like a no-confidence vote," he said, while exuding confidence of gaining the lost ground in coming years.
"We are very satisfied with the results declared so far. People in rural areas were unhappy with the government because of its negligence towards important issues like availability of urea for farmers and water and electricity availability. Our workers worked with full dedication and the credit goes to the party workers and leaders," he said.
