More than 50 seats out of the 200 assembly constituencies in Rajasthan will witness a triangular contest with rebels from both BJP and Congress throwing their hats in the electoral ring as independent candidates on many of these seats, after being denied a ticket by their own party.
There will be also a triangular contest on the seats where the Bahujan Samaj Party have fielded its nominees apart from the independent candidates challenging the two major party parties- Bhartiya Janta Party and the Indian National Congress.
The BJP Thursday night suspended four Rajasthan Cabinet ministers from the party for six years after they refused to withdraw their nomination papers in favor of the official candidates. Other Leaders who insisted on contesting again as independents in the December 7 elections were similarly punished. The party called the action ”expulsion” for six years.
In a press release issued by the party, it is stated that 11 ‘rebels’ have been suspended from the party’s primary membership for six years. Those who have been expelled from the party has been identified as Surendra Goyal, Lakshminarayan Dave, Radheshyam Ganganagar, Hemsingh Bhadana, Rajkumar Rinava, Rameshwar Bhati, Kuldeep Dhankad, Deendayal Kumavat, Kishanram Nai, Dhansingh Rawat, and Anita Katara. The BJP is expected to act against more leaders in upcoming days.
Senior leaders from BJP and Congress remained busy till Thursday, November 22 – the last day for withdrawing nominations – in their efforts to make the rebels step down.
The BJP managed to persuade MLAs Gyan Dev Ahuja, Bhawani Singh Rajawat, Taru Rai Kaga and Alka Gurjar from contesting against the party nominees after being denied tickets.
In the Congress, former Union minister Mahadev Singh Khandela (Khandela), former Rajasthan minister Babulal Nagar (Dudu), former MLA Nathuram Sinodia (Kishangarh) are among those who have turned rebels on being denied party nominations. They are contesting as independent candidates, whose presence in the fray will affect the party’s vote in that particular assembly.
“Disciplinary action was taken against some of the leaders, which is a routine process. There will be no impact of any rebel candidate and we will win a majority of the seats,” Union minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said on Friday.
There are 2,294 candidates fighting the elections in the bipolar state of Rajasthan.
A total of 3,293 candidates had filed nomination papers. The papers of 420 candidates were rejected after scrutiny while 579 candidates withdrew their nomination, informed an official.
With this, 2294 candidates are left in the field. The BJP is contesting all 200 seats while the Congress has fielded its candidates on 195 leaving 5 seats for its alliance partners.
The Bahujan Samaj Party is contesting 191 seats and the Aam Aadmi Party 143.
The Election in the state with 200 assembly seat will take place on December 7, and the results will be announced on December 11.