New Delhi: The BJP on Sunday released 15 more names of candidates, taking the total declared candidates by it to 197 for the November 25 elections to the 200-member Rajasthan Assembly. The BJP's fifth list includes some fresh faces.
While the BJP leadership decided not to declare its chief ministerial face and refrained from even projecting anyone for the top post, its choice of candidates, according to a few party insiders, shows that former chief minister and top contender for the CM post Vasundhara Raje managed to have her say in the ticket distribution.
According to some state BJP leaders, the "Maharani" managed to get tickets for around four dozen candidates considered either close to her or will likely support her claim for the top post if such a circumstance arises. Though the party also denied tickets to some of her confidantes, including Ashok Parnami and Arun Chaturvedi, among others.
The fifth list of 15 candidates released just a day before the last day of filing nominations includes some fresh faces like youth leader Upen Yadav, who had been targeting the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government on many issues, including the paper leak issue. Mr Yadav has been fielded from the Shahpura Assembly seat.
The BJP dropped sitting MLA from Mawli (Udaipur) Dharmnarayan Joshi and instead fielded K. G. Paliwal from the seat. Journalist Gopal Sharma has been fielded from Civil Lines and Ravi Nayyar from Adarsh Nagar, both new faces.
The party also decided to replace its candidates in two seats. The party replaced Poonam Kanwar Bhati, the daughter-in-law of former minister Devi Singh Bhati, with her son Anshuman Singh Bhati in the Kolayat seat. The party also changed its candidate for Bara-Antru.
The party fielded Amit Chaudhury from Hanumangarh, Chandramohan Batvada from Kishanpole and Vijay Bansal from Bharatpur. Prahlad Gunjal, considered close to Ms Raje, has been fielded from Kota North and Babu Singh Rathore from Shergarh Assembly constituency.
The names of three candidates for constituencies, including Barmer, are now remaining to be declared by the BJP.
