Jaipur: Twenty of the 50 women candidates emerged victorious in Rajasthan on Sunday, with their strength in the House marginally going down as compared to the outgoing assembly.

Of the winning women candidates, nine each were from the BJP and the Congress and two were Independents.

There were a total of 50 women candidates in the fray this time, 20 fielded by the BJP, 28 by the Congress and two Independents.

The nine winning Congress candidates were Shimla Devi (Anupugarh), Sushila Dudi (Nokha), Rita Chaudhary (Mandawa), Shika Meel Barala (Chomu), Shobharani Kushwah (Dholpur), Anita Jatav (Hindaun), Indra (Bamanwas), Geeta Barwar (Bhopalgarh), and Ramila Khadia (Kushalgarh).

The BJP's women candidates who emerged victorious were Diya Kumari (Vidhyadhar Nagar), Anita Bhadel (Ajmer South), Manju Baghmar (Jayal), Shobha Chauhan (Sojat), Deepti Kiran Maheshwari (Rajsamand), Kalpna Devi (Ladpura), Vasundhara Raje (Jhalrapatan), Siddhi Kumari (Bikaner East), Nauksham Chaudhary (Kaman).

Ritu Banawat (Bayana) and Priyanka Chaudhary (Barmer) won as Independents.

The outgoing 15th Rajasthan Assembly has 24 women members, 12 of the Congress, 10 of the BJP, one of the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) and an Independent.

The BJP returned to power in Rajasthan on Sunday, winning 115 seats out of the 199 where assembly elections were held last week.

The Congress, which was hoping to buck the trend of the incumbent being voted out in the state every five years, bagged 68 seats. The final result of only one seat was awaited and the Congress was leading by a narrow margin there.

The Bharat Adivasi Party won three seats, the Bahujan Samaj Party two, and Rashtriya Lok Dal and Rashtriya Loktantrik Party one each. Eight seats were won by Independents.

Polling in 199 of the state's 200 seats were held on November 25. The election in Sriganganagar's Karanpur seat was postponed due to the death of the Congress candidate.