Raj BJP declares first list of 131 candidates

JAIPUR: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday night declared their first list of 131 candidates for the Rajasthan assembly elections which included 85 sitting MLAS and 25 new faces.

The first list had a few surprises, with sitting minister Surendra Goyal being dropped while senior leader Devi Singh Bhati’s daughter-in-law Poonam Kanwar being given the ticket. Barmer-jaisalmet MP Col Sonaram was given the ticket from Barmer seat. His candidature gains significance in view of former BJP MLA Manvendra Singh joining the Congress. There were several new names in the Shekhawati area where the BJP is weak.

Addressing a press conference in Delhi, union minister JP Nadda said the party was issuing the list in which there were 12 women, 32 youth, 17 SC and 19 ST candidates. He said the list had given representation to all castes and regions. He said candidates for the remaining 69 seats would be announced soon.

Chief minister Vasundhara Raje, ministers Gulab Chand Kataria, Rajendra Rathore, Arun Chaturvedi, Shrichand Kriplani, Kiran Maheshwari, Vasudev Devnani, Anita Bhadel and Prabhulal Saini have been repeated.

From Jaipur, while several names were repeated, minister and senior leader Kalicharan Saraf’s name not being included in the first list indicates that he could be dropped. Filing of nominations will start Monday and continue till November 19. Polling will be held on December 7.

The list came after several rounds of talks in Rajasthan and Delhi. The state leaders including chief minister Vasundhara Raje were in Delhi since the last two days to finalise. Meetings were held at Rajasthan election incharge Prakash Javadekar’s residence and between Raje and BJP national president Amit Shah. Meetings continued during the day on Sunday before the parliamentary board meeting in the evening where prime minister Narendra Modi, Shah and other senior leaders were present.

Congress had declared its list on November 3 itself, the list was of 63 candidates.