Congress workers protest party ticket to independent candidate in Rajasthan

A group of Congress workers staged a protest against the candidature of independent MLA Om Prakash Hudla on the party seat at Mahwa assembly constituency. The protestors burnt the effigy of Hudla and demanded the central leadership's intervention to cancel Hudla's ticket and consider any Congress worker for the seat, according to ANI.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot announced Hudla's candidature during a meeting held by Priyanka Gandhi in Dausa on October 20. Reportedly, a few party workers opposed this and expressed dissatisfaction at the time. However, Hudla's name was included in Congress' second candidate list.

Congress released its first candidate list with 33 names on Saturday and its second list of 43 candidates on Sunday. The second list included state ministers Pratap Singh Khachariyawas and Govind Ram Meghwal. The Congress Screening Committee for Rajasthan is expected to meet in Delhi on October 26 to discuss the names of remaining candidates for the Assembly Polls.

The Congress party has announced 76 candidates for the Rajasthan polls so far. Congress has re-nominated 29 sitting MLAs and four other MLAs for constituencies currently having Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs.

BJP released its second list of 88 candidates, taking its total to 124 nominees for the upcoming state polls. Rajasthan Assembly has 200 seats, all of which will go into polls on November 25. The counting of votes for Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, and Mizoram will be done on December 3.

A party requires 101 seats to form the government in Rajasthan. The last elections were held in 2018 when Congress formed the government with Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and independent candidates.