Rathore among 7 BJP MPs to contest Rajasthan assembly polls

Rajsamand MP Diya Kumari and Jaipur Rural MP Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore are among the seven BJP parliamentarians who will contest the Rajasthan Assembly polls, according to the first list of 41 candidates issued by the party on Monday.

While Diya Kumari will fight the elections from Jaipur's Vidhyadhar Nagar constituency, Rathore, a former Union minister and retired Army officer, has been fielded from Jhotwara, also in Jaipur district.

Vidhyadhar Nagar seat is currently held by BJP MLA Narpat Singh Rajvi, a five-time MLA and son-in-law of former vice president Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.

The remaining 40 constituencies for which the BJP announced its candidates are held by the ruling Congress and other parties.

Out of the 41 candidates, only three are women while 12 are those who were also fielded by the party in the 2018 assembly polls.

The 41 constituencies for which the BJP issued the list included six SC and 10 ST seats.

Of the seven parliamentarians, six are Lok Sabha MPs and one -- Kirodi Lal Meena -- is a Rajya Sabha member.

Jhunjhunu MP Narendra Kumar will contest the elections from Mandawa seat, Alwar MP Baba Balaknath from Tijara, Ajmer MP Bhagirath Choudhary from Kishangarh, Jalore MP Devji Patel from Sanchore, and Meena will fight from Sawai Madhopur constituency.

Gurjar leader late Kirodi Singh Bainsla's son Vijay Bainsla (from Deoli-Uniara seat) and retired IAS officer Chandramohan Meena (Bassi constituency) also figured on the list.

The BJP released its first list of candidates hours after the poll schedule was announced by the Election Commission. Polling for all 200 assembly seats in Rajasthan will take place on November 23 and votes will be counted on December 3.

A BJP spokesperson said here that the party's central election committee has approved the names of 41 candidates.

The other BJP candidates are Jaideep Bihani (Ganganagar), Sanjeev Beniwal (Bhadra), Tarachand Saraswat (Dungargarh), Santosh Meghwal (Sujangarh), Bablu Chaudhary (Jhunjhunu), Vikram Singh Jakhal (Nawalgarh), Shubhkaran Choudhary (Udaipurwati), Shravan Choudhary (Fatehpur), Subhash Mahria (Lachhmangarh), Gajanand Kumawat (Danta Ramgarh), Hansraj Patel Gurjar (Kotputli), Prem Chand Bairwa (Dudu), Devi Singh Shekhawat (Bansur), Jairam Jatav (Alwar Rural), Jawahar Singh Bedam (Nagar), Bahadur Singh Koli (Weir), Rajkumari Jatav (Hindaun), Hansraj Meena (Sapotra), and Bhagchand Dakra (Bandikui).

Similarly, Rambilas Meena will contest from Lalsot seat, Rajendra Meena from Bamanwas, Shatrughan Gautam from Kekri, Arjun Lal Garg from Bilara, Balaram Mundh from Baytoo, Nanalal Aahri from Kherwara, Bansilal Katara from Dungarpur, Shankar Decha from Sagwara, Sushil Katara from Chorasi, Krishna Katara from Bagidora, Bhimabhai Damor from Kushalgarh, Udaylal Bhadana from Mandal and Ladulal Pitalia from Sahara constituency.