Rajasthan Assembly Elections: Congress on Thursday announced the third list of 19 candidates for the upcoming Rajasthan Assembly elections. The ruling Congress has fielded MLA Narendra Budania against BJP candidate Rajendra Rathore.
With the third list, the Congress has so far announced 95 candidates for the upcoming polls. Notably, in the third list, six are the loyalists of former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot.
The grand old party has nominated Wajib Ali for the Nagar constituency. In a previous election, Ali ran from Nagar as a candidate of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and later joined the government.
Here is the full list of candidates
The party has fielded Narendra Budania from the Taranagar assembly seat, Pusaram Godara from Ratangarh, Sharwan Kumar from Surajgarh, Rajendra Pareek from Sikar, Ganga Devi Verma Bagru (SC), Wajib Ali from Nagar, Shoba Rani Kushwah from Dholpur, Lakhan Singh Meena from Karauli, Ramesh Chand Meena from Sapotra (ST), Gajraj Khatana from Bandikui, Ramkesh Meena from Gangapur, Harish Chandra Meena from Deoli-Uniara, Rakesh Pareek from Masuda, Madan Prajapat from Pachpadra, Motiram Koli from Reodar (SC), Heera Lal Darangi from Jhalod (ST), Rajendra Trivedi from Sahara, CL Premi Bairwa from Keshoraipatan (SC) and Panachand Meghwal from Baran-Atru (SC).
The first and second lists of Congress
In the first list, they announced 33 candidates, and in the second list, 43 candidates for the 200 legislative assembly seats. The Congress has chosen to stick with existing faces, including the Chief Minister and 20 ministers. The parameter adopted is to repeat the sitting MLAs.
CM Ashok Gehlot will contest from Sardarpura, Sachin Pilot to contest from Tonk, CP Joshi from Nathdwara, Divya Maderna from Osian, Govind Singh Dotasara from Lachhmangarh, and Krishna Poonia from Sadulpur.
The ruling party has given a ticket to former Chief Secretary of Rajasthan Niranjan Arya, who is considered a close aide of CM Ashok Gehlot, from the Sojat constituency.
The party has fielded Gurmeet Singh Kunner from Karnpur, Dunger Ram Gedar from Suratgarh, Dr. Bulaki Das Kalla from Bikaner West, Hakam Ali from Fatehpur, Govind Ram Meghwal from Khajuwala (SC) and Prasadi Lal Meena from Lolsot (ST).
Rajasthan elections
Rajasthan will go to polls on November 25 while the counting of votes will take place on December 3. Rajasthan has 200 total seats. In Rajasthan – which will see a direct fight between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party on November 25 – anti-incumbency is an important factor. Since 1993, when the BJP came to power after a stint of President’s rule, the state has alternated between the Congress and the BJP.
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) mustering 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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