The Opposition BJP in Rajasthan on Thursday announced its candidates against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and former Deputy CM Sachin Pilot in its third list, comprising 58 candidates, for the November 25 State Assembly election. The party nominated eight sitting MLAs again and also fielded seven women candidates for the polls.
Mahendra Singh Rathore, a Professor in Jodhpur’s Jai Narain Vyas University and a former Chairperson of the Jodhpur Development Authority, has been fielded from Sardarpura seat, where Mr. Gehlot has been winning since 1998. Prof. Rathore earlier headed the university’s Department of Business Finance and Economics.
Former MLA Ajit Singh Mehta will challenge Mr. Pilot in his Tonk constituency. He had won the 2013 Assembly election in Tonk, defeating Congress rebel Saud Saidi, who is now considered a loyalist of Mr. Pilot. Mr. Pilot was elected from Tonk in 2018, when he defeated the BJP’s Yunus Khan.
The BJP has given tickets to two former Congress leaders, Subhash Meel and Darshan Gujjar, who had joined the party just a day previously. Mr. Meel will contest the election from Khandela and Mr. Gujjar from Karauli. Udailal Dangi, who shifted from the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) to the BJP, has been fielded from Vallabhnagar.
The BJP’s third list, which came a day after the party’s Central Election Committee met in New Delhi, has taken the total number of candidates to 182 for the 200-member Assembly.
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The party has dropped former Assembly Speaker Kailash Meghwal from his seat, Shahpura in Bhilwara district, and given the ticket to a new face, Lalaram Bairwa. Mr. Meghwal, considered close to former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, was recently suspended after he accused Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal of indulging in corruption.
Mr. Yunus Khan, another close confidant of Ms. Raje, who lost in Tonk in 2018, has been denied a ticket from Didwana, from where Jitendra Singh Jodha has been fielded. Didwana was Mr. Khan’s original constituency, which he represented twice, in 2003 and 2013. He was a Cabinet Minister in the previous BJP regime.
Selected candidates considered close to Ms. Raje include Prabhulal Saini (Hindoli), Jaswant Singh Yadav (Behror), and Ajay Kilak (Degana).
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Balmukund Acharya, a priest in Jaipur district’s Hathoj Dham temple, has been fielded as the BJP candidate in Jaipur’s Hawa Mahal constituency, where the ruling Congress is yet to announce its candidate. The seat, falling in the Walled City of Jaipur, is at present represented by Cabinet Minister Mahesh Joshi.
The sitting MLAs fielded by the party again were Rampratap Kasaniya (Suratgarh), Madan Dilawar (Ramganj Mandi), Pabbaram Vishnoi (Phalodi), Puraram Choudhary (Bhinmal), Narayan Singh Dewal (Raniwada), Arjun Lal Jingar (Kapasan), Chandrakanta Meghwal (Keshoraipatan), and Kalpana Devi (Ladpura).
Ms. Meghwal and Ms. Devi are among the seven women who will be contesting the election on a BJP ticket. The party’s other five women candidates are Poonam Kanwar Bhati (Kolayat), Sumitra Poonia (Sadulpur), Nauksham Chaudhary (Kaman), Kamsa Meghwal (Gopalgarh), and Sarika Chaudhary (Baran-Atru).
