Rajasthan Assembly elections: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday released the second list of candidates for the Rajasthan Assembly elections. The BJP which is eying a comeback has fielded former CM Vasundhara Raje to contest from Jhalarpatan, and Satish Punia fielded from Amber. Rajendra Rathod to contest from Taranagar and Jyoti Mirdha from Nagaur. Polling for the 200-member Rajasthan Assembly will be held on November 25 and the counting of votes will be taken up on December 3.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP leaders BL Santhosh, Vasundhara Raje, Pralhad Joshi, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Kailash Chaudhary, Satish Poonia, CP Joshi, Arun Singh, Kuldeep Bishnoi Rajendra Rathore, co-election in-charge Nitin Patel, co-in-charge Vijaya Rahatkar on Friday had held a meeting over the probable names.
With this move, the BJP ended all the speculation about factionalism within the party's state unit. However, the BJP leadership's about-turn on his candidature is being seen as a damage-control exercise after Rajvi reacted angrily and cited his family legacy to hit out at the party.
The party also decided to field Narpat Singh Rajvi from Chittorgarh after its earlier decision to deny the five-term MLA, who is the son-in-law of its stalwart leader Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, renomination from his Vidhyadhar Nagar seat. This triggered a backlash from a section of party workers.
