Congress fields 79 new faces for Rajasthan Assembly polls

Yash Goyal
Our Correspondent 
Jaipur, November 16

In its first list of 152 contestants just three working days before closing of the nomination process on November 19, the Congress has fielded 97 new faces along with its top party functionaries, including Ashok Gehlot, Sachin Pilot, Girija Vyas, CP Joshi and Rameshwar Dudi in the December 7 Assembly polls. 

Of the 25 sitting MLAs, the party has given tickets to 22 so far; to nine Muslims, 20 women, two sittings MPs and five former MPs, a list announced in the wee hours of Friday, shows.

Twenty-four aspiring candidates who lost twice were denied tickets. They are BD Kalla and Dr Chandrabhan (both ex-PCC president). Kin of 15 veteran Congress leaders got tickets. 

Parachute candidates Harish C Meena, BJP’s Dausa MP, Habibur Rehman, miffed BJP MLA, KL Jhanwar, senior BJP leader, who joined the Congress on the eve of the elections also got tickets from their respective districts. The Jamidara Party MLA who merged with the Congress got ticket from Rai Singh Nagar. 

AICC general secretary (Organisation) and former CM Ashok Gehlot will contest from his parent Sardarpura seat (Jodhpur city) against the BJP’s Shambhu Singh Khetasar. 

Sachin Pilot, the PCC president who lost the 2014 Lok Sabha poll from Ajmer, will try his maiden entry into the Assembly from Tonk seat, which is dominated by 65,000 Muslims and 35,000 Gurjars in rural areas. It was once represented by the Congress in parliament and the Assembly. He will challenge BJP’s Ajit Singh Mehta. 

CP Joshi, who lost the Assembly polls in 2008 by a margin of one vote in Nathdwara constituency and was defeated in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls from Jaipur-rural, will try his luck against the BJP’s Mahesh Pratap Singh. 

After losing the 2014 general election, Girija Vyas, former minister in the UPA government, will contest the Udaipur-city assembly seat against Rajasthan Home Minister GC Kataria. 

Leader of Opposition (Congress) in state Assembly Rameshwar Dudi, who had a tussle with Pilot over giving ticket to his relative causing a delay in the list announcement, will contest from Nokha seat against the BJP’s Bihari Lal Vishnoi. 

Without waiting for the list, AICC secretary for Punjab Harish Choudhary, who is the chairman of the manifesto committee, has already filed his nomination papers from Baytoo in Barmer district. 

Former UPA minister Namnonarayan Meena and Harish Meena were trying for tickets from Dausa district, but got it from Deoli-Uniara where he will have a tough contest with BJP leader Rajender Gurjar.

The Congress has fielded 23 Jat, 20 Brahmin and Vaishya, 13 Rajput, 29 SC and 24 ST candidates.

The BJP list had 19 women, 44 new faces, 26 Jat, 22 Rajput, 27 SC and 22 ST candidates. 

In its 162-candidate list, the BJP has fielded royal families members like Siddhi Kumari, Gajendra Singh Kheenvsar, KK Deepa, Pushpendra Singh Ranawat, Rao Rajendra Singh (all sitting MLAs), while the Congress is still considering Bhanwar Jitendra Singh, Vishwendra Singh (sitting MLA),  I Raj Singh and Rukshmani Kumari in the remaining 48 aspiring candidates.

The BJP has not given ticket to any Muslim candidate. 

Meanwhile, the supporters of BD Kalla, who was denied ticket from Bikaner East, held a protest, shouted anti-Congress slogans and burnt down chairs at Dagga Chowk in the wee hours of Friday.

The party has given ticket to Gopal Gehlot, a Congress rebel of 2013. Similarly, the supporters of Vikram Singh Choudhary demanding ticket from Vidhyadhar Nagar held a protest and took out a march up to the PCC office.