The ruling Congress on Sunday announced its second list, comprising 43 candidates, for the Rajasthan Assembly election, while repeating 15 Ministers as well as Deputy Chief Whip Mahendra Choudhary from their seats, and fielding former Chief Secretary Niranjan Arya from the reserved constituency of Sojat.
The party has so far announced 76 candidates for the Assembly election. The first list of 33 nominees, including Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, was released on Saturday. The second list also includes five Independents who had supported the Gehlot government during its political crisis of 2020.
The list mainly contained the names of leaders considered loyal to Mr. Gehlot, though there were a few nominees owing allegiance to Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot as well. The Ministers on the list include B.D. Kalla (Bikaner West), Pratap Singh Khachariyawas (Civil Lines, Jaipur), Parsadi Lal Meena (Lalsot), Govind Ram Meghwal (Khajuwala), Sukhram Bishnoi (Sanchore), Udai Lal Anjana (Nimbahera), Shakuntala Rawat (Bansur), and Pramod Jain Bhaya (Anta).
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Among the Ministers fielded again from their constituencies, only Brijendra Ola (Jhunjhunu) is considered a loyalist of Mr. Pilot. While Ramgarh MLA Shafia Zubair has been been replaced by her husband Zubair Khan, the party has given the ticket from Nokha to Sushila Dudi, wife of former MLA and Chairman of the Agro-Industries Development Board, Rameshwar Dudi, who is recuperating from a brain haemorrhage.
The five independent candidates given tickets — Om Prakash Hudla (Mahuwa), Sanyam Lodha (Sirohi), Babu Lal Nagar (Dudu), Laxman Meena (Bassi), and Khushveer Singh (Marwar Junction) — are loyalists of Mr. Gehlot.
The All India Congress Committee has also constituted a coordination committee for the State Assembly election. The committee will be headed by Congress Working Committee member and the party’s national spokesperson Mohan Prakash. Its conveners will be Laxman Singh Rawat and Neeraj Dangi, and co-convener will be Ram Singh Kaswan. )
