The BJP, after sidelining many established names in its first Rajasthan list, has released their second list of 83 candidates for the Rajasthan Assembly polls. The saffron party had put out their first list of 41 candidates on October 9.
The polling for the 200-member Rajasthan Assembly will be held on November 25, and counting of votes will take place on December 3.
The list declared on Saturday included Vasundhara Raje from her constituency Jhalrapatan and several of her key loyalists, as well as Narpat Singh Rajvi, who was dropped from the first list. More than three-fourths of the BJP’s 70 sitting MLAs have now been re-fielded. The most prominent of them, of course, is Raje, who has got a respite with tickets to many loyalists, after being systematically sidelined in the BJP.
Here’s the full list of candidates released so far:
BJP releases second list fo… by Express Web
While there were expectations that the BJP might field some more Union ministers to beef up its chances in the close Rajasthan race — after having done so in Madhya Pradesh — none figured in the second list.
Among the MPs whose candidatures were announced in the first list, Diya Kumari and Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore are considered as party heavyweights.
Given that regional parties hold little sway in Rajasthan, the Assembly elections are expected to be a bipolar contest between the Congress and the BJP, putting their respective platforms to test, ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in 2024.