New Delhi: BJP on Saturday released the second list of candidates for the upcoming Rajasthan Assembly elections. The saffron party has fielded BJP national vice-president and former chief minister Vasundhara Raje from Jhalarpatan. Satish Punia will contest from Amber; Rajendra Rathod from Taranagar, and Jyoti Mirdha from Nagaur. The party has named 83 candidates in its second list.
The BJP fielded Narpat Singh Rajvi from Chittorgarh after its earlier decision to deny the five-term MLA renomination from his Vidhyadhar Nagar constituency. Vishwaraj Singh Mewar, a descendent of Maharana Pratap Singh, has been fielded from Nathdwara, which was won by Congress veteran CP Joshi in the last elections.
The party has also fielded Santosh Bawri from Anupgarh, Santosh Ahlawat from Surajgarh, Sushree Siddhi Kumari from Bikaner East, Anita Bhadel from Ajmer South, Shobha Chauhan from Sojat, Deepti Maheshwari from Rajsamand.
Earlier last month, the party had announced the names of 41 candidates in its first list.
The first list had names of prominent leaders such as Diya Kumari and Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore. While Diya Kumari will contest the polls from Vidhyadhar Nagar constituency in Jaipur, Rathore, a former Union minister and retired Army officer, was fielded from Jhotwara, also in Jaipur district.
The second list was announced after the BJP’s Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting in New Delhi on Friday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah and BJP president JP Nadda were among the key leaders present in the meeting. This was most likely the last CEC meet of the saffron party before the Assembly elections next month, news agency PTI quoted its sources as saying.
Polling for the 200-member Rajasthan assembly will be held on November 25 and the results will be announced on December 3.
The BJP has named 136 candidates for the Madhya Pradesh polls so far. It is yet to announce its candidates for the 119-member Telangana Assembly.