The BJP on Thursday announced the names of 16 Lok Sabha candidates for Rajasthan, repeating 14 of them, while axing the ticket for Jhunjhunu MP Santosh Ahlawat and bringing in a new face in Ajmer.
The Congress has not declared any list for the state so far.
Four of the five ministers in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet have been repeated. Rajyavardhan Rathore from Jaipur Rural, Gajendra Shekhawat from Jodhpur, Arjun Ram Meghwal from Bikaner and PP Choudhury from Pali have been fielded once again.
In Jhunjhunu, sitting MP Santosh Ahlawat -the only woman MP of the part y in the state- was dropped in favour of sitting MLA of Mandawa Narendra Kumar Khinchal.
In Ajmer, where BJP MP Sanwarlal Jat passed away a couple of years ago, the party has fielded Bhagirath Choudhary, the former party MLA from Kishangarh. After Jat passed away, Congress’s Raghu Sharma had won the seat in the subsequent by-polls. But he vacated the seat after contesting and winning the assembly election last year.
Speculation over former chief minister Vasundhara Raje contesting the election was put to rest with her son and sitting MP Dushyant Singh being repeated from the Jhalwar-Baran constituency.
Nine other sitting MPs who have been repeated are - Nihal Chand from Ganganagar, Sumedhanand Sarswasti from Sikar, Ramcharan Bohra from Jaipur, Sukhbir Jaunpuria from Tonk-Sawaimadhopur, Subhash Baheria from Bhilwara, Devji Patel from Jalore, CP Joshi from Chittorgarh, Om Birla from Kota and Arjun Lal Meena from Udaipur.
Elections will be held in two phases in Rajasthan. Voting in 13 constituencies will be held in the first phase on April 29. The remaining 12 constituencies will vote on May 5.
First Published: Mar 21, 2019 22:27 IST