The much anticipated first list of candidates of the Congress for the Assembly elections in Rajasthan was released today. Amongst the 33 nominees on the list are Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, who will contest from his traditional seat of Sardarpura, former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot and PCC chief Govind Singh Dotasra who will contest from their current seats Tonk and Lachhmangarh respectively.
There are no major surprises in the first list, with five ministers featuring amongst the nominees and just two MLAs getting axed. The party seems to keep the contentious seats for later lists. Vidhan Sabha Speaker C.P. Joshi has been repeated from Nathdwara, Harish Choudhary from Baytoo, Divya Maderna from Osian, Ashok Chandna from Hindoli, Krishna Poonia from Sadulpur, Danish Abrar from Sawai Madhopur, Manisha Panwar from Jodhpur.
29 sitting MLAs have been nominated as per the first list. There are nine women candidates and one Muslim nominee. Amongst the other prominent names on the list are Archana Sharma from Malviya Nagar, Mukesh Bhakar from Ladnun and Mamta Bhupesh from Sikrai.
The Congress central election committee met earlier this week to finalise the party's candidates for the state elections scheduled to be held on November 25. With the party seeking to buck the trend of the state's electorate voting out the incumbent, it is learnt that a decision has been taken to not give tickets to a substantial number of MLAs to deal with the anti-incumbency against the legislators.
Addressing a press conference in the national capital close on the heels of the party's CEC meeting, Gehlot rejected reports of differences between him and Pilot with regard to the selection of candidates. He said he was a party in decisions favouring the Pilot camp in the CEC meetings and has not objected to the candidature of even one MLA seen as close to his former deputy. Even as there are reports that many MLAs will not get tickets this time round, the chief minister said had any legislator been corrupt, his government would not have survived the attempt made to topple it since the BJP had allegedly offered Rs 10 crore to each MLA of the ruling party.
