Rajasthan elections: Cong releases 7th list of 21 candidates

The Congress on Sunday, 5 November released its seventh list of 21 candidates for the 25 November Rajasthan assembly polls, fielding state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shanti Dhariwal from the Kota North seat.

Seven sitting MLAs, including two ministers, didn't get tickets. Four sitting MLAs have been renominated.

With this, the Congress has announced its candidates for 199 seats, out of a total of 200, while leaving one seat -- Bharatpur -- for the Rashtriya Lok Dal. The last date for submission of the nomination papers is today, November 6.

The party didn't give a ticket to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's confidant Dharmendra Rathore.

In the fresh list, seven sitting MLAs didn't make the list. They are Jitendra Singh, Parasram Mordia, Lalchand Kataria, Girraj Malinga, Prithviraj, Hemaram Choudhary and Ramnarain Meena.

Lalchand Kataria and Hemaram Choudhary are ministers in the Gehlot government. Choudhary, close to former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot, had already expressed his desire to not contest elections.

In his place, the party has declared Col Sonaram Choudhary (retd), who returned to the Congress fold from BJP barely a few hours before the release of the list, as its candidate from Gudha Malani.

Sources said that Lal Chand Kataria was also not keen on contesting the election from Jhotwara, where the party has given a ticket to Abhishek Chaudhary.

Abhishek Chaudhary is the state president of the National Students' Union of India, the student wing of the Congress. As soon as his name was announced, his supporters started a celebration at Rajasthan University's main gate by bursting firecrackers.

Congress has fielded Prashant Singh Parmar in Bari in place of sitting MLA Girraj Malinga who joined the BJP before the announcement of the list.

The four MLAs who have been renominated are Ved Prakash Solanki (Chaksu), Zahida Khan (Kaman), Shanti Dhariwal (Kota North) and Nirmala Saharia (Kishanganj).

Ved Prakash Solanki is also close to Pilot.

The Congress has also given a ticket to Zahida Khan.

The other candidates in the list are Bhagwan Ram Saini (Udaipurwati), Manisha Gurjar (Khetri), Jagdish Danodia (Dhod), Ghanshyam Mehar (Todabhim), Mahendra Singh Ralawata (Ajmer North), Harendra Mirdha (Nagaur), Tejpal Mirdha (Khinvsar), Hari Shamkar Mewara (Sumerpur), Surendra Singh Jadavat (Chittorgarh), Narendra Kumar Raigar (Shahpura), Chetan Patel (Pipalda), Rakhi Gautam (Kota South), Mahendra Rajoria (Ramganj Mandi) and Ram Lal Chouhan (Jhalrapatan).