Rajasthan polls: BJP announces eight candidates in third list, drops six sitting MLAs; 170 out of 200 contestants declared

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday released its third list of eight candidates for the Rajasthan Assembly election, slated for 7 December.

Third list of 8 BJP candidates for upcoming Rajasthan Assembly elections finalised by BJP CEC today. @BJP4Rajasthan pic.twitter.com/KK9bTO5uFE

— BJP (@BJP4India) November 17, 2018

The party fielded minister Surendra Pal Singh from Karanpur. Based on the third list, so far six sitting MLAs have been dropped in the upcoming polls. So far, 170 out of the 200 BJP candidates have been declared for the upcoming election. A total of 580 candidates have filed 776 nominations in poll-bound Rajasthan so far, including sitting MLAs Otaram Dewasi and Govind Singh Dotasara. Rajasthan’s Chief Electoral Officer Anand Kumar said that 269 candidates filed 343 sets of nominations till Thursday. Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje filed her nomination papers from Jhalarapatan Assembly constituency on Saturday. In 2013, the saffron party under Raje had won a whopping 163 assembly seats in the state, giving the Congress its worst ever drubbing. Election campaigning in Rajasthan is all set to heat up with the BJP releasing its list of star campaigners. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah will be touring Rajasthan to address poll rallies in the state. While Modi is expected to attend a rally in the state on 24 November, Shah will be taking part in a roadshow on 21 November. The BJP president will be in Bikaner in support of candidates fielded by the party in the upcoming Rajasthan Assembly polls, a party functionary said on Friday. The last date for filing of nominations is 19 November. With inputs from agencies