BENGALURU: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Monday said that the Congress party has an edge in Rajasthan and will form its government ‘comfortably’ in all the other poll-going states.
Among the five states, voting is only left in Telangana, where the electorates will exercise their franchise on Thursday.
Referring to the Assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Mizoram which were held earlier this month, DK Shivakumar told reporters, “I am confident that in all the states in which we are going to polls, including Rajasthan, the Congress party will win comfortably and we will form the government. In Rajasthan, we have an edge and (in) all the states we are going to win comfortably.”
Voting concluded in Rajasthan on Saturday, where approximately 74.13 percent of electorates cast their votes.
The Bharatiya Janata Party is claiming to have an edge in the desert state as there has been a trend of alternating government since 1998, with the power shifting between Congress and BJP every five years.
However, the Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government, banking on their welfare schemes, is aiming to buck this trend this time.
Earlier on Friday, a day ahead of voting, Rajasthan CM Gehlot, citing the example of Kerala, where the trend of alternating government was broken after 76 years, said that Congress will retain power.
“If the 76-year record of Kerala (to change government alternately) can be broken. It has been more than 30 years in Rajasthan. We did good work during COVID-19 times and have passed good laws, schemes, and guarantees now. People are influenced by it. Congress will repeat government in Rajasthan,” Gehlot had said.
The votes for all five states will be counted on December 3. (ANI)