Bharatiya Jana Sangh [1951-77]

The roots of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Rajasthan dates back to the times of its predecessor Bharatiya Jana Sangh which was traditionally strong in some pockets of Rajasthan. Of the 3 seats which the BJS had won in the 1951–52 Indian general election, one of the seat was Chittorgarh (Lok Sabha constituency) won by Umashankar Muljibhai Trivedi. The elections held to the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly in 1952 witnessed the BJS winning 8 seats out of the 50 seats it had contested and had garnered 5.93% of the votes polled.^[2] However the tally of the BJS fell in the subsequent election as Ram Rajya Parishad led by Swami Karpatri too contested the elections and the vote division took place.^[3] However, in the subsequent elections of 1962 and 1967 the BJS won 15 and 22 seats respectively crossing vote share of 10%.^[4][5] In the 1972 elections despite maintaining the vote share the BJS could win only 8 seats.

Janata Party [1977-80]

In 1975, Indira Gandhi declared a state of Emergency, and threw many major opposition politicians in jail including the leaders of the BJS. In 1977, the Emergency was withdrawn, and elections were held. The BJS, joined forces with the Bharatiya Lok Dal, the Congress (O), and the Socialist Party, to form the Janata Party. The elections saw Janata Party emerging victorious in 152/200 seats in the Assembly.^[6] As the Jan Sangh faction was the largest in the legislative party, its leader Bhairon Singh Shekhawat became the first non-Congress Chief Minister of Rajasthan. However the government began to wither as significant ideological and political divisions emerged. The party consisted of veteran socialists, trade unionists and pro-business leaders, making major reforms difficult to achieve without triggering a divide. Socialist politicians shared an aversion to the Hindu nationalist agenda of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, whose members included Vajpayee, Advani and other leaders from the former Bharatiya Jana Sangh. The party thereafter split and Indira Gandhi emerged victorious in the 1980 Indian general election and came back to power. The Janata Party government led by Bhairon Singh Shekhawat was dismissed on the grounds that the Government had lost the public trust.

Bharatiya Janata Party [1980- present]

In April 1980, shortly after the elections, the National Executive Council of the Janata Party banned its members from being 'dual members' of party and the RSS. In response, the former Jana Sangh members left to create a new political party, known as the Bharatiya Janata Party. Although the newly formed BJP was technically distinct from the Jana Sangh, the bulk of its rank and file were identical to its predecessor which helped the BJP in retaining some of its traditional Jan Sangh vote base. The BJP emerged as the principal opposition to the ruling Congress both the times in 1980 as well as 1985.

The allegations of corruption, known as the Bofors scandal, against Rajiv Gandhi witnessed the Congress party's defeat in 1989 Indian general election. The National Front coalition was formed with the outside support from the Left Front and the Bharatiya Janata Party and V. P. Singh became the prime minister. The Congress subsequently even lost the 1990 Rajasthan elections to the BJP. The BJP with 85 seats formed a coalition with the Janata Dal which had 55 seats and Bhairon Singh Shekhawat became the first Chief Minister from the Bharatiya Janata Party on 4 March 1990.

On 6 December 1992, Babri Masjid was demolished in Uttar Pradesh and Kalyan Singh, the then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh took the moral responsibility and resigned. The state was put under President's rule. However P. V. Narasimha Rao, the then Prime Minister undemocratically dismissed the BJP ruled state Governments in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh due to violence erupted in these states with the fall of the Masjid, while the Congress Government in Maharashtra was spared despite Bombay riots and 1993 Bombay bombings.

While the BJP lost subsequent elections held in 1993 to Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh, it was able to win a wafer thin majority in Rajasthan and managed to form a Government with support of independents under Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. The BJP however lost 1998 state elections to the Congress led by Ashok Gehlot and was reduced to 33 seats in the Assembly of 200 seats. Thereafter the power has been alternating between the BJP and the Congress once in every 5 years.

Legislative Assembly elections

Year	Seats won	+/-	Voteshare (%)	+/- (%)	Outcome
1980	32 / 200	32	18.60%	18.60%	Opposition
1985	39 / 200	7	21.24%	2.64%	Opposition
1990	85 / 200	46	25.25%	4.01%	Government
1993	95 / 200	10	38.60%	13.35%	Government
1998	33 / 200	62	33.23%	5.37%	Opposition
2003	120 / 200	87	39.20%	5.97%	Government
2008	78 / 200	42	34.27%	4.93%	Opposition
2013	163 / 200	85	45.17%	10.90%	Government
2018	73 / 200	90	38.08%	7.09%	Opposition
2023	115 / 200	42	41.69%	3.61%	Government

Lok Sabha elections

Year	Seats won	+/-
1984	0 / 25
1989	13 / 25	13
1991	12 / 25	1
1996	12 / 25
1998	5 / 25	7
1999	16 / 25	11
2004	21 / 25	5
2009	4 / 25	17
2014	25 / 25	21
2019	24 / 25	1

List of chief ministers

No	Portrait	Name	Constituency	Term of office		Tenure (in years and days)	Assembly
1		Bhairon Singh Shekhawat	Chhabra	4 March 1990	15 December 1992	2 years, 286 days	9th
			Bali	4 December 1993	2 November 1998	4 years, 360 days (total 7 years, 281 days)	10th
2		Vasundhara Raje	Jhalrapatan	8 December 2003	11 December 2008	5 years, 3 days	12th
				13 December 2013	16 December 2018	5 years, 3 days (total 10 years, 6 days)	14th
3		Bhajan Lal Sharma	Sanganer	15 December 2023	Incumbent	24 days	16th

List of deputy chief ministers

No	Portrait	Name	Constituency	Term of office		Tenure (in years and days)	Chief Minister
1		Hari Shankar Bhabhra	Ratangarh	6 October 1994	29 November 1998	4 years, 54 days	Bhairon Singh Shekhawat
2		Diya Kumari	Vidhyadhar Nagar	15 December 2023	Incumbent	24 days	Bhajan Lal Sharma
3		Prem Chand Bairwa	Dudu	15 December 2023	Incumbent	24 days

List of opposition leaders

No	Portrait	Name	Constituency	Term of office		Tenure (in years and days)	Assembly	Chief Minister
1		Bhairon Singh Shekhawat	Chhabra	15 July 1980	9 March 1985	4 years, 237 days	7th	Jagannath Pahadia Shiv Charan Mathur Hira Lal Devpura
			Amber	28 March 1985	1 March 1990	4 years, 338 days	8th	Hari Dev Joshi Shiv Charan Mathur
			Bali	8 January 1999	18 August 2002	3 years, 222 days	11th	Ashok Gehlot
2		Gulab Chand Kataria	Badi Sadri	24 August 2002	4 December 2003	1 year, 102 days
3		Vasundhara Raje	Jhalrapatan	2 January 2009	20 February 2013	4 years, 49 days	13th
(2)		Gulab Chand Kataria	Udaipur	21 February 2013	9 December 2013	291 days
				17 January 2019	16 February 2023	4 years, 30 days	15th
4		Rajendra Singh Rathore	Churu	2 April 2023	2 December 2023	244 days

List of presidents

Source:^[16]