Ending days of suspense, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday announced Bhajanlal Sharma, a first-time MLA from Sanganer, to be the new chief minister of Rajasthan.

Bhajanlal Sharma, 56, is a first-time MLA from Sanganer in Jaipur district. He won the recently held Assembly elections by defeating Congress’ Pushpendra Bhardwaj with a margin of 48,081 votes.

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The Sanganer constituency has been a stronghold for the BJP, where the party has seen consecutive wins since 2003. This time around, the saffron party decided to field Sharma as their candidate, replacing the sitting MLA Ashok Lahoty.

Originally hailing from Bharatpur, Sharma currently resides in the Jawahar Circle area in Jaipur. He has served as the party’s state general secretary, a position he has held four times. He has also been associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).

Bhajanlal Sharma’s total declared assets are worth Rs 1.5 crore, which includes Rs 43.6 lakh in movable assets and Rs 1 crore as immovable assets, according to the affidavit filed with the Election Commission (EC). His total declared income is Rs 11.1 lakh, of which 6.9 lakh is self-income.

Diya Kumari, a Rajput from the Jaipur royal family, and Prem Chand Bairwa, a Dalit face, have been appointed as deputy chief ministers by a team of central observers, including Rajnath Singh, Vinod Tawde and Saroj Pandey, who were present at the meeting of the legislature party of the state in Jaipur.