The Indian National Congress on Saturday released their initial candidate list for the upcoming Assembly Elections in Rajasthan, in a much-delayed announcement. The list has 33 candidates, including major leaders like Ashok Gehlot, Sachin Pilot, C P Joshi, Govind Singh Dotasra among others.
The polling date of the state was initially scheduled for November 23, 2023, but later postponed by the central Election Commission to November 25, 2023. However, the counting of votes will take place on December 3 itself.
राजस्थान में होने वाले विधानसभा चुनाव, 2023 के लिए भारतीय राष्ट्रीय कांग्रेस द्वारा जारी उम्मीदवारों की पहली सूची। pic.twitter.com/tOyTHUM2TN
— Congress (@INCIndia) October 21, 2023
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot will contest from Sardarpura constituency and Sachin Pilot from Tonk. The Congress fields state unit president Mr Dotasra from Lachchmangarh and Speaker Mr Joshi will contest from Nathdwara. Minister Harish Choudhary is set to face the elections from Baytoo, Divya Maderna from Osian, and Krishna Poonia from the Sadulpur assembly constituency. Minister Mamta Bhupesh has been fielded from Sikrai-SC seat and the list includes names of Bhanwar Singh Bhati, Manoj Meghwal, Amit Chachan, Rita Choudhary, Indraj Singh Gurjar, Lalt Kumar Yadav, and Tikaram Julie.
The Election Commission of India re-scheduled the polling dates of Rajasthan to November 25 and stated that they received requests from different political parties for a modification to the previously scheduled election date. The poll panel also cited “large-scale” weddings and social engagements on November 23 and said that they may cause inconvenience to a large number of people and it may result in low voter turnout.
According to the Election Commission, the date for issuing gazette notification is October 30 and the last date for filing nominations in Rajasthan is November 6. The nominations will be scrutinized on November 7 and the last date of withdrawal of candidature is November 9. This new schedule will give additional time for the political parties for their election campaign.
Rajasthan is currently governed by Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government and the BJP is the main opposition party. The state assembly consist of 200 seats and the Congress had secured 108 seats in the 2018 election, while the BJP won 70 seats. Meanwhile, assembly elections will be also held in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram between November 7 and 30. The counting of votes for all the five states will be on December 3. While announcing the poll schedule on October 9, the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar informed that 16 crore voters are eligible to cast their votes in the upcoming assembly elections.
