The Congress on Tuesday declared two more lists with 61 candidates in total for the Assembly elections, mainly announcing its nominees for seats held by opposition MLAs. The party accommodated some MLAs and dropped some, including two critics of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. Of the 61 constituencies, 39 are those where the sitting MLA is from Opposition parties, including 34 held by the BJP. Of the remaining 22, the party has retained the incumbent Congress MLA or the Independent supporting the party in 14 seats and dropped seven MLAs. One other seat was vacant. With the fresh announcements, the number of candidates announced by the Congress goes up to 156 of the total of 200 Assembly seats. Three Gehlot loyalists and heavyweights who were the architects of the 2022 “rebellion” have not figured in the latest lists either. The three include Cabinet ministers Shanti Dhariwal and Mahesh Joshi, as well as Dharmendra Rathore, who is the chairman of Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation. Among the notable names who have been announced is Cabinet Minister for Minority Affairs, Shale Mohammad, who has been retained from his Pokaran seat in Jaisalmer. Manvendra Singh, son of former Union Defence Minister Jaswant Singh, has been fielded from Siwana in Barmer, currently held by BJP’s Hameer Singh Bhayal. In 2018, the Congress fielded Manvendra against sitting Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, a battle he lost. The party’s national spokesperson Gourav Vallabh has been fielded from Udaipur. The seat has been vacant ever since Gulab Chand Kataria was appointed Assam Governor in February. AICC National Secretary Dheeraj Gurjar, who had lost from Jahazpur as the sitting MLA in 2018, has again been fielded from this seat. Like Manvendra, Surendra Goyal also left the BJP in 2018 and joined the Congress. He has been fielded from Jaitaran, which is held by the BJP. The Congress has also fielded Vikash Chaudhary from Kishangarh. Dropped by the BJP, Chaudhary left the party and joined the Congress at a Priyanka Gandhi rally last week. Currently, Kishangarh is held by Suresh Tak, an Independent MLA. Also fielded by the party is Imran Khan. On October 9, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) announced Khan as its candidate from Tijara. Khan had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as a BSP candidate from Alwar, finishing a distant third. The BSP got a hint about him changing sides as late as Tuesday morning, with the party’s state president Bhagwan Singh Baba issuing a statement that the party might reconsider his candidature. Khan has been fielded in place of sitting Congress candidate Sandeep Kumar. Apart from Sandeep Kumar, the Congress has dropped six sitting legislators, including two bitter critics of CM Gehlot. SC Commission Chairman Khiladi Lal Bairwa, who was among the most outspoken Pilot camp MLAs, has been replaced in Basedi with Sanjay Kumar Jatav. Bharat Singh Kundanpur, who was known over the last five years for writing scathing letters to CM Gehlot on various issues, has also been replaced with Bhanu Pratap Singh in Sangod. As for other seats where the Congress replaced its MLAs, Mange Lal Meena has been fielded from Rajgarh-Laxmangarh, replacing Johari Lal Meena; Sanjana Jatav has been fielded from Kathumar, replacing Babulal; Anita Jatav has been fielded from Hindaun, replacing Bharosi Lal; and Mohan Lal Kataria has been fielded from Bilara, replacing Heeraram. Those who have been retained include Ameen Khan from Sheo and Deependra Singh from Srimadhopur. Joginder Singh Awana and Deepchand Kheria. who had joined the Congress from the BSP, have been fielded from Kishangarh Bas and Nadbai, respectively. Similarly, two Independents who had been supporting the Gehlot government have been retained from their seats — Mahadeo Singh from Khandela and Kanti Prasad Meena from Thanagazi. Among others, Bidhuri Rajendra Singh has been retained from Begun, Amar Singh from Bayana, Indra Meena from Bamanwas, Prashant Bairwa from Niwai, Padma Ram Meghwal from Chohtan, Nagraj Meena from Dhariyawad and Rooparam from Jaisalmer. The names for 39 other seats announced by Congress and held by Opposition MLAs include 34 held by BJP MLAs, three by Independents, and one each by the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party and the Bharatiya Tribal Party.
