Rajasthan Exit Poll Results 2024 LIVE: Advantage NDA in desert state, Axis My India predicts 16-19 seats

The NDA is unlikely to repeat its 2019 clean sweep in Rajasthan this time. According to the India Today-Axis My India Exit Poll, the BJP-led coalition is expected to win 16-19 seats out of the 25 seats, while the INDIA bloc is projected to go home with 5-7 seats. Independents may secure 1 or more seats.

Rajasthan, a crucial state in the political landscape, holds significance for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is aiming to replicate its success from 2019 when it secured 24 out of the 25 seats, with its ally RLP clinching one seat. In 2014 and 2019, the BJP-led NDA, won all the 25 seats in Rajasthan. 

In the two phases of voting in the state, BJP seemed to be facing a challenge in at least half the seats. Unlike the last two times when voting was largely in the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the party’s core issues of nationalism and Ram Temple, this time, caste politics seemed to weigh heavily on voters. 

BJP is facing the most heat in Barmer, where incumbent Union minister Kailash Choudhary is pitted against Independent Ravindra Bhati and the Congress’s Ummeda Ram Beniwal. Rajputs and some other groups are backing Bhati while Jats seem to be rallying behind Beniwal and Choudhary, with Beniwal having the upper hand. 

In the 2019 and 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP-led NDA swept the desert state and bagged all 25 seats. 

A similar pattern was observed in the Assembly Elections held in Rajasthan in 2023, where BJP defeated Congress and ousted the grand old party. Sticking to its trend of changing the government every five years, BJP came to power in the state. It won 115 seats and Congress, which was confident of changing the trend, won 70 seats. 

The exit poll serves as a preliminary assessment of the outcomes that can be anticipated. On June 4, the Election Commission will announce the official results following the tallying of all the ballots. The outcome will be announced by the evening of June 4.