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BJP announces Rajasthan bypoll candidates, fields ex-minister Kiran Maheshwari’s daughter
The BJP on Thursday fielded the daughter of former minister Kiran Maheshwari from Rajsamand assembly constituency, which is among the three assembly seats going to bypolls on April 17
The BJP on Thursday fielded the daughter of former minister Kiran Maheshwari from Rajsamand assembly constituency, which is among the three assembly seats going to bypolls on April 17.
Not experimenting much, the BJP, riding on the sympathy wave, fielded Deepti along with former MLAs Ratanlal Jat from Sahara (Bhilwara) and Khemaram Meghwal from Sujangarh (Churu) as the party candidates.
Deepti Maheshwari is the daughter of Kiran Maheshwari who was the MLA from Rajsamand and died due to Covid-19 in November last year. It was the only seat among the three which was held by the BJP. Rest two seats, Sahara and Sujangarh, were held by the ruling Congress and represented by Kailash Trivedi and Master Bhanwarlal Meghwal.
While Meghwal, who was the social justice and empowerment minister in the Ashok Gehlot cabinet, died due to a brain stroke in November, Trivedi lost his battle to Covid-19 in October 2020.
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A senior BJP leader, on condition of anonymity, said Kiran Maheshwari had worked for the people of Rajsamand for long, people would support Deepti, though there is resentment among the local leadership but that would be set aside with peoples’ support. On the rest two seats, the party trusted its old guard - both candidates had been MLAs twice and even held cabinet berth.
The nomination process is already going on and the last date of filing of nomination is March 30. Polling will be held on April 17 and counting of votes will take place on May 2.
Now that BJP has announced its candidates, the Congress list is expected in a day or two.
Congress’ frontrunners on Sahara seat include late MLA Kailash Trivedi’s wife Gayatri and brother Rajendra. For Rajsamand, the top picks for Congress include Tansukh Bohra and Asha Paliwal while for Sujangarh, the party has moreover finalised Manoj, son of late MLA Bhanwarlal Meghwal. Of the three seats, the party is likely to field family members on two seats.
