2024 polls: Congress' 10 from Rajasthan includes Rahul Kaswan

The Congress on Tuesday, 12 March, declared candidates for 10 seats in Rajasthan for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Sitting Churu MP Rahul Kaswan, who joined the Congress after leaving the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday, 11 March, has been given a ticket from the same seat. Earlier, the BJP had denied him a ticket and fielded Paralympian javelin thrower Devendra Jhajharia from the same seat.

Vaibhav Gehlot, son of former chief minister Ashok Gehlot, is the candidate from Jalore–Sirohi. In 2019, Vaibhav had contested from the Jodhpur Lok Sabha seat and was defeated by Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.

The Congress has fielded new candidates in all the 10 seats this time. No candidate has been given a ticket for the same seat as last time.

Madan Gopal Meghwal, the previous candidate from Bikaner, for instance, has had to give way to Govind Meghwal who this time will confront Union law minister Arjun Meghwal.

Not receiving tickets this time are also Rafiq Mandelia from Churu, Shravan Kumar from Jhunjhunu, Abhijeet Jatav from Bharatpur and Namonarayan Meena from Tonk.

Udaylal Anjana was given a ticket from Jalore–Sirohi last time. This time, instead of being expected to make way like the above, he has been fielded from Chittorgarh.

Three existing Congress MLAs have been given tickets for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls too — Brijendra Singh Ola, who had contested from Jhunjhunu earlier; Harish Meena, who has been fielded from Tonk–Sawai Madhopur; and Lalit Yadav from Alwar.

The Congress has also given a ticket to Tarachand Meena, a fresh face from Udaipur.

Sanjana Jatav has been fielded as a new young face from Bharatpur.

In Jodhpur, Congress leader Karan Singh Uchirada will be the Rajput face of the party against Shekhawat.