Jaipur: The nomination process for both phases of Loksabha polls in Rajasthan has been over and 266 candidates are in the election fray for all the 25 Loksabha constituencies of the state. There will be a triangular fight on two seats namely Barmer - Jaisalmer and Banswara - Dungarpur, while the rest of the seats will have a direct flight between BJP and Congress.
The polling in Rajasthan is scheduled for April 19th and 26th and Monday (April 8) was the last date for withdrawal of nominations for the second phase of voting. With this, the status of candidates on all 25 Lok Sabha seats has become clear.
A total of 266 candidates are in the fray for all 25 seats in the state. Whereas the total number of candidates in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections was 249. As per the report released by the Election Commission, a total of 114 candidates will be in the fray for 12 seats in the first phase of voting (April 19) while In the second phase of voting (April 26), voters will decide the fate of a total of 152 candidates on 13 seats.
A maximum of 18 candidates are contesting on Chittorgarh seat. Voting will take place here in the second phase, while Karauli-Dholpur has only four, the least number of candidates in the fray. Voting will take place here in the first phase. BJP and Congress or its allies are in direct flight on 23 out of a total of 25 seats, while two seats will have a triangular fight.
Congress, which had announced an alliance with Bharatiya Adivasi Party (BAP) on the Banswara Lok Sabha seat, has suffered a major embarrassment as Congress candidate Arvind Damor did not withdraw his name from the search.
Congress has expelled him from the party but despite the expulsion, Damor will remain the Congress candidate because the party had given the election symbol to Damor during the nomination, so Damor is there in the fray with the Congress symbol and has clearly stated that he will contest the election, so here the contest will be triangular with Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya from BJP, Rajkumar Roat from BAP and Arvind Damor from Congress are in the fray.
The other seat where the triangular fight is certain is Barner - Jaisalmer the independent candidate Ravindra Singh Bhati is in the fray with union minister Kailash Choudhary of BJP and Ummedaram Beniwal of Congress. Bhati is an independent MLA also from the Shiv assembly constituency where he won in a multi-polar contest.
The rest of the seats in the state will have a direct fight between BJP and Congress, though Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has also fielded its candidates on all the seats there are no prominent faces in the candidate list of the party and the party has a presence in limited pockets.
The Congress is contesting on 23 seats with three turncoats from BJP and Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) on seats like Kota, Churu and Barmer and alliance with CPIM and RLP on Sikar and Nagaur. On the other hand, BJP is contesting on all the 25 seats and has repeated its candidates on ten seats.
