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All Like-Minded Anti-BJP Parties Welcome To Support Us, Says Rajasthan Congress President Sachin Pilot

Pilot's comments came soon after the BJP appeared to close its gap with the Congress and smaller parties also reflected leads in a significant number of seats
State Congress President and candidate from Tonk, Sachin Pilot, shows his inked finger after casting his vote at a polling booth, at Jalupura on December 7, 2018 in Jaipur.
Hindustan Times via Getty Images
State Congress President and candidate from Tonk, Sachin Pilot, shows his inked finger after casting his vote at a polling booth, at Jalupura on December 7, 2018 in Jaipur.

NEW DELHI: The Congress party is exploring the possibility of getting post-poll support from all anti-BJP parties in Rajasthan, state president Sachin Pilot said on Tuesday afternoon in a press conference. Pilot made these comments even as fresh trends of assembly election results showed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) closing its gap in number of seats in which it was leading vis-a-vis the Congress.

At the time of writing, the trend showed the Congress party leading on 101 and the BJP on 71 seats while smaller parties like the Communist Party of India (Marxist) was leading on two, Bahujan Samaj Party on five and the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party on three. Independents led on 13 seats in the desert state.

The Rajasthan Assembly comprises 200 representatives from constituencies, but on December 7, 199 constituencies went for polling as election for one constituency was postponed following the death of a contesting candidate. The Congress party will require 100 seats for a simple majority if it wants to single-handedly form the government. If it falls short of this number, it will require support from other parties. So far, result for only one seat has been declared.

As counting continues till evening, the role of smaller parties is expected to become more important. While Pilot expressed confidence that the Congress will get "full majority", he also said that the Congress was reaching out to the other parties for a possible tie-up.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.