Jaipur (Rajasthan) : The Rajasthan Congress Committee has released is sixth list with the names of 23 more candidates for the State assembly polls. This time, the Congress denied ticket to Public Health Engineering Department Minister Mahesh Joshi from his Hawa Mahal constituency in Jaipur city limits from where the party's Jaipur city unit president R R Tiwari is given ticket to contest.
Urban Development and Housing Minister Shanti Dhariwal's name did not figure in this list. Till now, the Congress announced its candidates for 178 seats, out of a total of 200. Bharatpur seat is left vacant as part of the alliance with the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD).
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राजस्थान में होने वाले विधानसभा चुनाव, 2023 के लिए भारतीय राष्ट्रीय कांग्रेस द्वारा जारी उम्मीदवारों की सूची।#कांग्रेस_फिर_से#RajasthanAssemblyElection2023 pic.twitter.com/N0C3w1vHXP
— Rajasthan PCC (@INCRajasthan) November 4, 2023 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
">राजस्थान में होने वाले विधानसभा चुनाव, 2023 के लिए भारतीय राष्ट्रीय कांग्रेस द्वारा जारी उम्मीदवारों की सूची।#कांग्रेस_फिर_से#RajasthanAssemblyElection2023 pic.twitter.com/N0C3w1vHXP
— Rajasthan PCC (@INCRajasthan) November 4, 2023राजस्थान में होने वाले विधानसभा चुनाव, 2023 के लिए भारतीय राष्ट्रीय कांग्रेस द्वारा जारी उम्मीदवारों की सूची।#कांग्रेस_फिर_से#RajasthanAssemblyElection2023 pic.twitter.com/N0C3w1vHXP
— Rajasthan PCC (@INCRajasthan) November 4, 2023
Ministers Shanti Dhariwal and Mahesh Joshi were facing allegations of indiscipline after the incident that took place in the last week of September 2022. It is believed that for this reason both the leaders have been kept away from the Congress list till now. By canceling the ticket of Mahesh Joshi from Hawamahal, the party has given an opportunity to a new Brahmin face, in which the party has also given the message of moving forward by giving tickets to grassroots workers. Similarly, the party has not taken any decision yet in Kota North.
The Congress served notices to Minister Mahesh Joshi along with Minister Shanti Dhariwal and Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation (RTDC) chairman Dharmendra Rathore for indiscipline after a meeting was held at Dhariwal's residence to oppose any move of the party to appoint Sachin Pilot as the chief minister. At that time, there was speculation over CM Ashok Gehlot being in the race for the Congress president post.
In the sixth list, the Congress named Pilot's close aide Abhimanyu Poonia from Sangaria, Shahjad Khan from Soorsagar, Om Narayaniwal from Bhilwara, and Naimuddin Guddu from Ladpura. The polling for Rajasthan Assembly elections is slated for November 25 and the counting of votes will be taken up on December 3 along with the four other states.
Naeemuddin Guddu was given a chance in the sixth list of Congress despite continuous defeat from Ladpura in Kota. Similarly, in Vidyadhar Nagar, Jaipur, Sitaram Aggarwal will challenge Diya Kumari as the official candidate of Congress. The party has given a chance to Tiwari. This time, Dr. Shikha Barala will be the candidate in place of Bhagwan Sahay Saini in Chaumu seat near the capital Jaipur, whereas in Shahpura, instead of giving a chance to independent Alok Beniwal, the party has given the opportunity to the candidate Manish Yadav who had faced defeat last time. Similarly, the party has given ticket to Pilot's close aide Abhimanyu Punia from Sangriya, while Ajit Beniwal will be the Congress candidate from Bhadra.
The selection of candidates in Rajasthan seems to be very difficult for the Congress high command, which is stuck in the dilemma of ticket distribution. Despite announcing candidates in 6 phases, the party has not been able to field candidates on all 200 assembly seats till now. Even after 23 names appear in the sixth list, 21 more candidates will currently wait for the party's list.
The most interesting of which will be the selection of candidates for Sikar's Dhod, Jaipur's Jhotwara and Kota North seats. While Parasram Moradia in Dhod and Lalchand Kataria in Jhotwara have refused to contest the elections, the sword of indiscipline is hanging over Shanti Dhariwal in Kota North. Similarly, no decision has been taken on the ticket of Ved Prakash Solanki, very close to Sachin Pilot, on the Chaksu seat of Jaipur.
