Rajasthan Assembly Elections: Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot files nomination from the Sardarpura Assembly constituency for the upcoming Assembly elections in Rajasthan. CM's wife Sunita Gehlot and son Vaibhav Gehlot accompanied him when he filed his nomination papers.
Gehlot took his sister's blessings before filing a nomination for the forthcoming state Assembly election.
Notably, Sardarpura is seen as a Congress stronghold with Gehlot winning from the seat in all elections since 1998. He received 63 per cent votes in the 2018 assembly elections.
'People in mood to repeat government'
After filling the nomination, the Chief Minister said that he have fulfilled the duties as a 'pratham sevak'. "Whatever I have learned through my experience in Jodhpur, I have given it for the service of Rajasthan. Now it is up to the people to decide," said CM.
Gehlot further said that the people of the state are in the mood to repeat the government in Rajasthan. "Earlier Rajasthan was known as a backwards state but now it has changed. Today, Rajasthan has AIIMS, IITs, IIMs and other universities. When I became the CM for the first time, there were only six universities and now there are over 100 colleges. People of the state are in the mood to repeat the government in Rajasthan," he added.
Gehlot political journey
Gehlot is the present Rajasthan Chief Minister since 2018. Gehlot, the Congress veteran, was the Rajasthan Chief Minister from 1998 to 2003 and again from 2008 to 2013. He has been representing the Sardarpura constituency since 1999 when he won it in a bypoll. Gehlot won the seat in 2003, 2008, 2013 and 2018. In the 2018 Rajasthan Assembly Election, Gehlot defeated the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Shambhu Singh Khetasar by 45,597 votes. Gehlot also remained the Rajasthan state Congress chief in 1985, 1994 and 1997.
He was first elected to the 7th Lok Sabha from the Jodhpur constituency by defeating Janata Party candidate Balbir Singh Kachhwah. Gehlot retained his seat in 1984 by again defeating Balbir Singh. However, he lost to Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Jaswant Singh by 66,246 votes in 1989.
After his loss, Gehlot made a strong comeback and won three back-to-back elections in 1991, 1996 and 1998. Gehlot also served as Deputy Minister for Tourism, Civil Aviation and Sports from 1982 to 1984 under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Minister of State for Tourism and Civil Aviation under Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Textiles under Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao.
It was Gehlot who led the Congress party to a massive victory in Rajasthan in 1998 after the party's two consecutive losses in the 1990 and 1993 Assembly Elections at the hands of BJP stalwart and former Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. Gehlot is again contesting from Sardarpura in the upcoming Rajasthan Assembly Election 2023.
Rajasthan elections 2023 Date
Voting for all 200 seats in the state will be held on November 25 and the counting of votes will take place on December 3. Nominations can be filed till November 6.
In 2018, Congress won 100 seats in the 2018 Assembly polls. BJP followed at 73 seats while BSP garnered 6 seats. Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) gathered 3 seats with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Bhartiya Tribal Party (BTP) mustered 2 seats each. Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) managed to grab just one seat while there were 13 independent candidates in the 2018 Assembly Elections.
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