Rajasthan assembly election 2018: 2,294 candidates in election fray as 597 withdraw papers

JAIPUR: It is official, 2294 candidates will contest the upcoming assembly elections in Rajasthan on December 7. With 579 withdrawal of nominations, both Congress and BJP have been able convince many rebel candidates to withdraw their nominations from various constiuencies which include sitting MLAs Bhawani Singh Rajawat, Alka Singh and Gyandev Ahuja (all BJP dissidents) and former minister Lalit Bhati, a Congress rebel.


On the request of state Congress President Sachin Pilot, rebel Congress leader and BSP candidate Baldev Saini decided to withdraw his nomination from Khandela constituency to support Congress candidate Subhash Meel.

The total number of withdrawals has gone up from 86 to 579 at the end of the last day of withdrawal of nominations with 493 withdrawals. Ramchandra Sardana of the Congress has also decided not to contest the elections after talks with senior party leaders, who had filed his nominations from Virat Nagar as an independent candidate.

Ashok Lahoti can heave a sigh of relief after Ahuja, who is a sitting MLA from Ramgarh in

Alwar

, withdrew his nomination from Sanganer as an independent candidate, even as the former faces a stiff challenge from sitting MLA Ghanshyam Tiwari.

Ahuja decided to withdraw his nomination from Sanganer after his meeting with BJP President Amit Shah on Wedneday. Ahuja has been made the Vice-President of the party.

Rajawat, has withdrawn his nomination from Ladpura (Kota) as an independent candidate from where he is the sitting MLA and Alka Singh, a sitting MLA from Bandikui in Dausa, has withdrawn her nomination as an independent candidate from Malpura constituency in Tonk.

On the other hand, Lalit Bhati withdrew his nomination as a Congress candidate from

Ajmer

South constituency.

Eleven rebel candidates have withdrawn their nominations as BJP candidates on Thursday. Among the candidates who have withdrawn their nominations as BJP candidates include Priyanka Kanwar (Kolayat), Madhu Sudan (Fatehpur), Amar Singh (Weir), Hardev Singh (Mahuwa), Asha Devi Sharma (Dausa), Ganpat Singh (Beawar), Bhanwar Singh (Masuda), Ramratan (Nagaur), Steffi Chouhan (Merta), Mahaveer Kumar Vaya (Vallabnagar) and Ram Lal Gurjar (Asind).

On Thursday, eleven rebel candidates withdrew their nominations as Congress candidates. They include Mukesh Kumar Bairwa (Dudu), Mahavir Prasad (Alwar Rural), Satish Sharma (Dholpur), Ram Savroop Jayswal (Dausa), Satyanarayan Singhal (Gangapur), Lalit Bhati (Ajmer South), Babulal and Udairam (Sumerpur), Khetsingh (Ahore), Hurpal (Kushalgarh) and Chetraj (Dag).

Adarsh Nagar has seen the highest number of withdrawals with 22 candidates withdrawing their nominations, followed by 14 in Kishanpole, 12 in

Jaisalmer

and 10 each in Hawamahal, Degana and Siwana. Out of 579 withdrawals, 482 were withdrawals by independent candidates.