 "Congress releases third list of 19 candidates for Rajasthan elections")
The Congress party has released its third list of 19 candidates for the upcoming Rajasthan assembly elections, bringing the total number of nominees declared by the party to 95.
The list includes 13 sitting MLAs, including a cabinet minister. Among the candidates are Shobha Rani Kushwah from Dholpur, Rajendra Prateek from Sikar, Wajib Ali from Nagar, Harish Chandra Meena from Deoli-Uniara, and Heera Lal Darangi from Jhalod (ST). Rural and Panchayati Raj Minister Ramesh Chand Meena will contest from Sapotra, and Independent MLA Ramkesh Meena will contest from Gangapur.
The party has cut the Sahada MLA Gayatri Devi ticket and instead, fielded Rajendra Trivedi from the seat. Shobha Rani Kushwah was previously expelled from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha elections in June last year. Kushwah joined the Congress party on Wednesday.
The other MLAs who got tickets are Narendra Budania (Taranagar), Ganga Devi Verma (Bagru), Gajraj Khatana (Bandikui), Rakesh Pareek (Masuda), Madan Prajapat (Pachpadra) and Panachand Meghwal (Baran-Atru).
Independent candidates CL Premi from Keshoraipatan and Pusaram Godara from Ratangarh contested elections in 2018 but lost. In an earlier list, the Congress party had also fielded independent MLA Om Prakash Hudla on the party seat at Mahwa assembly constituency, which sparked protests from party workers.
Rajasthan Assembly has 200 seats, all of which will go into polls on November 25. The counting of votes for Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, and Mizoram will be done on December 3. A party requires a majority of 101 seats to form a government in Rajasthan.
(With agency inputs)