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Journalism of Courage
The BJP on Thursday released its third list of candidates for the Rajasthan Assembly elections, announcing names for 58 seats.
One of the major takeaways from the list released is the BJP choosing to not field Vasundhara Raje’s close confidant Yunus Khan, a former minister, either from Deedwana that he has twice represented as MLA or Tonk from where the BJP fielded him in 2018 against Congress leader Sachin Pilot. The BJP has fielded Jitendra Singh Jodha from Deedwana. In 2018, Jodha was also the BJP candidate in the 2018 Assembly elections but lost to the Congress’s Chetan Dudi.
From Tonk, the party has fielded former MLA Ajit Singh Mehta against Pilot, the incumbent MLA from Tonk. Mehta was the BJP MLA from Tonk from 2013 to 2018 but was denied the ticket in 2018 when the party fielded Khan from Tonk.
Former Congress leader Subhash Meel who joined the BJP on Wednesday after being denied a ticket from Khandela has got the ticket from the seat. Similarly, former Congress MLA Darshan Singh Gurjar has been fielded from Karauli. Gurjar joined the BJP on Wednesday after being denied a ticket by the Congress.
Meel and Gurjar were the Congress candidates from Khandela and Karauli in 2018 but lost — one to a Congress rebel who contested as an Independent and another to a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate. This time, the Congress has given the tickets in these seats to the MLAs who defeated these two.
From Jodhpur’s Sardarpura constituency, the BJP has announced the name of former Jodhpur Development Authority (JDA) chairperson Mahendra Singh Rathore who will take on Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. Gehlot has won the seat five consecutive times.
In the Shahpura Assembly constituency, the BJP has fielded Lalaram Bairwa. The party has dropped senior Raje-loyalist leader Kailash Meghwal, who recently levelled corruption allegations against Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal and was subsequently suspended from the party.
The BJP has fielded former MLA Jagat Singh, who is the son of former Union Minister Natwar Singh, from the Nadbai constituency in Bharatpur. From the Kaman seat, the BJP candidate is Nauksham Chaudhary who has contested the 2019 Assembly election in Haryana from Punahana.
The BJP has fielded Jai Ahuja from Ramgarh. Ahuja is a relative of Gyan Dev Ahuja who has been a former MLA from the constituency. From the Hawa Mahal Assembly constituency in Jaipur, the BJP has fielded Hindu priest Balmukund Acharya while former minister Jaswant Singh Yadav has been fielded from Behror.
Some of the leaders who have been denied tickets include Raje loyalists such as Bansidhar Bajiya from Khandela, Surendra Pareek from Hawa Mahal, and Krishnendra Kaur Deepa from Nadbai. All three lost the last Assembly elections.
However, much like the second list, the third list of the BJP has many names from Raje’s past council of ministers and her supporters, including Prabhulal Saini from Hindoli, Dhan Singh Rawat from Banswara, Gajendra Singh Khinvsar from Lohawat, and Ajay Singh Kilak from Degana.
With the list released on Thursday, the BJP has so far announced candidates in 182 of the 200 Assembly constituencies in Rajasthan.
