Surendra Pal Singh, the BJP's candidate for the Karanpur assembly seat in the January 5 election, was inducted as a minister in the Rajasthan government on Saturday, attracting criticism from the Congress, which accused the governing party of breaking the model code of conduct, news agency PTI reported. Aside from Singh, Governor Kalraj Mishra swore in 21 BJP MLAs as ministers during a ceremony at the Raj Bhawan here. Twelve leaders have been sworn in as cabinet ministers, five as ministers of state (independent charge), and five as ministers of state.
Singh was sworn in as a Minister of State (independent charge). "Voters of Karanpur are very understanding, I will win the elections for sure," Singh said.
The Congress' Rajasthan unit head Govind Singh Dotasra said his party will bring this situation to the Election Commission's attention and demand action after the BJP inducted Singh into the council of ministers.
The election for the Rajasthan Assembly seat of Karanpur was postponed due to the death of a Congress candidate. The election will now take place on January 5, and the results will be announced three days later.
"The BJP's ego is at its peak. It has defied the Election Commission and violated the Model Code of Conduct by administering the oath of office to its candidate from Karanpur Surendra Pal Singh," he stated in a post in Hindi on X.
Dotasra believes this is the first time the BJP has appointed a candidate as minister before elections in the country.
"The Congress will bring this matter to the notice of the Election Commission and demand action. The BJP may tempt the voters but the Congress party will win the Karanpur seat by a huge margin," he added.
The Congress has nominated Rupinder Singh Kooner for the Karanpur seat, which was postponed due to the death of the party's candidate and his father, Gurmeet Singh Koonar.
Karanpur assembly seat has 249 voting stations and 2,40,826 voters as of December 6.
Voting for 199 of Rajasthan's 200 assembly seats took place on November 25, and the results were announced on December 3. The BJP received 115 seats, while the Congress received 69.
On December 15, Bhajan Lal Sharma took the oath of office as Rajasthan's chief minister. Newly elected MLAs Diya Kumari and Prem Chand Bairwa were named deputy chief ministers alongside him.