Rebels relent, 4 ministers in fray

WhiletheBJPwassuccessful in convincing some rebels to withdraw their names, others, including four ministers, continuedtobeacauseofconcernasthey refused to relent on the last day of withdrawalofnamesonThursday.

The four ministers - Rajkumar Rinwa, Surendra Goyal, Hem Singh Bhadana and junior ministers Dhan Singh Rawat - were dropped by the BJP for the assembly elections. The party had tried to reach out to them but they refused to withdraw their names.

Rinwa is contesting from Ratangarh in Churu district, Goyal from Jaitaran in Pali district, Bhadana from Thanagazi in Alwar district and Rawat from Banswara and they could spoil the party’s chances.

Some MLAs relented after the party’s overtures. MLA Bhawani Singh Rajawat, Gyandev Ahuja and Anita Singh withdrew their candidatures after they spoke to senior party leaders. Rajawat met party national vice-president and MP Om Mathur while Ahuja met national president Amit Shah on Wednesday and yielded. Ahuja who was contesting from Sanganer was made party vice-president. Others still in the fray are MLAs Navneet Lal Ninama, Anita Katara, Devendra Katara and Laxminarayan Dave. Alwar UIT chairman Devi Singh Shekhawat too is in the contest.

Prachi Dixit, who had filed her nomination from Kota, and Champa Lal Gedar from Bikaner also withdrew their names. Gedar met Shah in Bikaner on Wednesday and then agreed to withdraw his name. Among the Congress rebels, two former min-

JAIPUR:

Smallest constituency KISHANPOLE sqkm)

Maximum electors JHOTWARA Minimum electors RAJAKHERA

Maximum woman electors JHOTWARA

Minimum woman electors KISHANPOLE

Maximum male electors JHOTWARA

isters, Mahadev Singh Khandela and Babulal Nagar, remain in the fray. In addition to them, six former MLAS, CS Baid from Taranagar, Sanyam Lodha from Sirohi, Nathram Sinodia from Kishangarh, CL Premi from Keshoraipatan, Bhimraj Bhati from Pali and Haji Abdul Kayum from Masuda, are also contesting as rebels. On the last day of withdrawal on Thursday, total 570 candidates withdrew their names. This number is till 6pm on the website of election department. As per the website, total 3,293 candidates filed their nomination from November 12 to 19, while 420 nominations were rejected in the scrutiny on Nov 20 and there were 2,873 candidates in fray. On Wednesday and Thursday, 570 candidates withdrew their names.