As the Rajasthan Assembly elections draw near, the Congress party unveiled its sixth list of candidates on Saturday, revealing the names of 23 contenders vying for various constituencies in the state. In a notable decision, the Congress party opted not to grant the ticket to Minister Mahesh Joshi from Hawa Mahal and instead fielded R R Tiwari. Moreover, the party has chosen to leave the Bharatpur seat for the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD).
So far, the Congress has declared candidates for 178 out of 200 seats in the Rajasthan assembly election, scheduled for November 25, 2023. The party is committed to challenging the trend of incumbent governments being voted out in the state.
The following is the list of candidates announced by the Congress:
- Sangaria - Abhimanyu Poonia
- Bhadra - Ajeet Beniwal
- Dungargarh - Mangalaram Godara
- Pilani- SC - Peetram Kala
- Danta Ramgarh - Virendra Singh
- Shahpura - Manish Yadav
- Chomu - Dr Shikha Meel Barala
- Amber - Prashant Sharma
- Jamwa Ramgarh - ST - Gopal Lal Meena
- Hawa Mahal - R.R. Tiwari
- Vidhyadhar Nagar - Sitaram Agarwal
- Alwar Urban - Ajay Agarwal
- Bharatpur - Left For RLD
- Malpura - Ghasi Lal Choudhary
- Merta - SC - Shivratan Valmiki
- Phalodi - Prakash Chhangani
- Lohawat - Kishnaram Bishnoi
- Shergarh - Meena Kanwar
- Soorsagar - Shahjad Khan
- Ahore - Saroj Choudhary
- Chorasi - ST - Tarachand Bhagora
- Bhilwara - Om Narayaniwal
- Ladpura - Naimuddin Guddu
In the fifth list, released on November 2, the Congress nominated five candidates, including two sitting MLAs. Rooparam Meghwal was renominated in Jaisalmer, while Saleh Mohammed was fielded again from Pokaran. The party also selected candidates for three Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-held seats – Vidhyadhar Choudhary in Phulera, Hangami Lal Mewara in Asind, and Dhiraj Gurjar in Jahapur.
So far, none of the three Gehlot loyalists accused of leading a rebellion in September last year and not allowing a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party — Shanti Dhariwal, Mahesh Joshi, and Dharmendra Rathore — have found a place.
The polls are set for November 25, with the vote count scheduled for December 3.