New Delhi: The Congress has released its first list of candidates for the upcoming elections in Rajasthan. The party declared the names of the candidates who would be contesting on 152 seats of the total 200 seats. Senior party leader Ashok Gehlot will be contesting from Sardarpur; whereas, Sachin Pilot will be contesting from Tonk.

The party has also given tickets to senior leaders like CP Joshi and Girija Vyas; whose names have been mentioned in the first list.

MP Harish Mani, who had joined the party after quitting BJP, will also be contesting the forthcoming elections.

The party has chosen Arjun Award winner Athlete Krishna Punia to contest from Sadulpur seat. Punia is a Discus Throw champion; he has won a gold medal in National games and twice won a Bronze in Asian Games.

It is interesting to see that the party has given tickets to 2 CM faces- Sachin Pilot and Ashok Gehlot; this clears the party's stance that it is not ready to take any risk.

Protest in Congress over ticket dissemination:

Soon after party released the 1st list of its candidates for the Assembly elections, several rifts can already be seen in the party over ticket dissemination.  Unhappy with the ticket distribution, party workers from Rajasthan sat outside party president Rahul Gandhi’s residence on Thursday night on an indefinite fast, who were later arrested by cops.

As per party workers, the “tickets were distributed in lieu of money”. The party workers also alleged that “parachute candidates were given several seats and workers who have been working for years have been sidelined”.