BJP announces candidates against Rajasthan CM Gehlot, Pilot in 3rd list; 182 nominees declared so far

New Delhi: In its third list for Rajasthan, the BJP has pit Mahendra Singh Rathore against CM Ashok Gehlot from the Sardarpura seat and Ashok Singh Mehta against Sachin Pilot from Tonk. The total list of 58 names had seven women candidates. 

On Wednesday’s list, the party fielded Rajesh Dahiya from the Pilani reserved seat, Ratanlal Jaldhari from Sikar, Kuldeep Dhankad from Viratnagar, Shankar lal Sharma from Dausa, Bheraram Choudhary from Osian, and Chhotu Singh Bhati from Jaisalmer.  

In all, the BJP has named 182 candidates in the 200 member assembly. Party national vice-president and former chief minister Vasundhara Raje has been fielded from Jhalrapatan, while president Satish Poonia will contest from Amber, and Jyoti Mirdha from Nagaur.

Some of the other candidates that the BJP has fielded include Narpat Singh Rajvi from Chittorgarh, a shift from his traditional Vidhyadhar Nagar constituency, and fielded Vishwaraj Singh Mewar, a descendent of Maharana Pratap Singh, from Nathdwara, a seat held by Congress’s CP Joshi.

Santosh Bawri has been fielded from Anupgarh, Santosh Ahlawat from Surajgarh, Sushree Siddhi Kumari from Bikaner East, Anita Bhadel from Ajmer South, Shobha Chauhan from Sojat, Deepti Maheshwari from Rajsamand.

Voting for all 200 seats will be held on November 25, while counting will take place on December 3. Nominations can be made till November 6. 

The BJP on Wednesday released a list of over 40 star campaigners in Rajasthan, which had names of PM Modi, party president JP Nadda, union ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Piyush Goyal, Pralhad Joshi, Dharmendra Pradhan, Smriti Irani and Anurag Thakur, among others, as well as BJP CMs Yogi Adityanath, Himanta Biswa Sarmaand Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Former Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje, too, found a mention in the list.