Former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot and state Congress chief Sachin Pilot figured in the party’s first list of 152 candidates for the Rajasthan assembly elections released late Thursday night.
Gehlot will contest from his traditional Sadarpura constituency in Jodhpur and Pilot from Tonk. Other senior leaders in the list include former Union ministers CP Joshi from Nathdwara (Udaipur) and Girija Vyas from Udaipur, and leader of opposition Rameshwar Dudi from Nokha (Bikaner).
A twice Member of Parliament from Dausa (2004) and Ajmer (2009), Pilot will be contesting his first assembly election for Pilot, while the two-time chief minister, Gehlot will be contesting continuously for the fifth time from Sardarpura assembly constituency.
The list includes 18 women and around 64 faces have been changed. The party has denied ticket to two sitting MLAs — Ghanshyam Mehr from Toda Bhim and Narayan Singh from Dataramgarh (his son Virendra Choudhary has been given ticket).
The jumbo list of 152 candidates was cleared after a six-hour-long meeting of CEC chaired by Congress president Rahul Gandhi. The meeting started at around 4 pm and concluded at 10 pm.
Sitting Dausa MP Harish Meena and Nagaur MLA Habibur Rehman, who had left the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party to join the Congress on Wednesday, have been fielded. They will contest from Mahua and Nagaur assembly constituencies.
The ruling BJP has already announced 162 candidates in two lists so far denying tickets to 41 legislators including five ministers. Elections to the 200-member Rajasthan constituency will be held on December 7 and the votes counted on December 11.
First Published: Nov 16, 2018 01:23 IST
Source: HindustanTimes