Rajasthan elections 2018: Congress releases its first list of candidates
Congress has fielded former chief minister Ashok Gehlot from Sardarpura seat and state party president Sachin Pilot from Tonk seat.
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Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot
Jaipur: The Congress party has released their much-awaited first list of candidates for the upcoming Rajasthan assembly elections, scheduled on December 7. The names of 152 candidates who will contest the elections on Congress tickets were released late night on Thursday.
Congress has fielded former chief minister Ashok Gehlot from Sardarpura seat and state party president Sachin Pilot from Tonk seat.
Read also: Sachin Pilot, Ashok Gehlot to contest Rajasthan assembly election 2018
Former BJP MP Harish Chandra Meena, who switched over to the Congress party on Wednesday, has been fielded from Deoli Uniara constituency while senior Congress leader CP Joshi will contest from Nathdwara constituency.
The Leader of Opposition in Rajasthan Assembly, Rameshwar Lal Dudi will contest election from the Nokha assembly seat on Congress’s seat while former National Commission for Women chief Girija Vyas has been fielded from Udaipur.
As per the sources, the major differences over the selection of some candidates were going on between former CM Ashok Gehlot and PCC chief Sachin Pilot. Both were trying to give tickets to their close ones.
The delay was also caused by speculations over differences among senior leaders about the selection of candidates. Congress president Rahul Gandhi wanted to give young faces an opportunity to fight elections rather than fielding senior leaders.
Both the senior leaders Askhok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot had already declared that they are going to contest. The announcement was made at the press conference held at AICC office in Delhi on Wednesday. All the senior leaders were there to welcome former DGP and Dausa MP of BJP, Harish Chandra Meena into the Congress party.
As reported earlier, Rajasthan Congress president Sachin Pilot told media persons that the list couldn’t come out because party chief Rahul Gandhi was not in Delhi. The names couldn’t be discussed with him, so the party decided to postpone the release of the list till Wednesday.
On another side, the BJP has already released their first list of 131 candidates and the second list of 31 candidates.
