As the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the poll schedule for Rajasthan on October 9, the state is poised to witness a bipolar contest between the ruling Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Voting for the 200 assembly constituencies will take place in a single phase on November 23, with the votes to be counted on December 3. Both the Congress and the BJP have already conducted exercises to finalise their candidates for the polls.
According to the Election Commission of India, the state has 141 general assembly segments, 25 seats reserved for Scheduled Castes, and 34 reserved for Scheduled Tribes, with a total number of voters amounting to 5.25 crore, including 2.73 crore males, 2.52 crore females, and 22.04 lakh first-time voters.
The term of the Rajasthan State Assembly is set to end on January 14, 2024. In the previous polls held in 2018, the incumbent Congress-led government secured 100 seats, while the BJP won 73 seats. Other parties included the Bahujan Samaj Party (6 seats), Bharatiya Tribal Party (2 seats), Communist Party of India (Marxist) (2 seats), Independent candidates (13 seats), Rashtriya Lok Dal (1 seat), and Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (3 seats).
Both the ruling Congress and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are grappling with factionalism. While Congress has been dealing with internal issues between Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and the younger leader Sachin Pilot, the BJP, known for its discipline, faces rivalry among its many leaders.
To address the infighting, BJP's national president JP Nadda, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and the party's general secretary (organisation) BL Santosh held a core group meeting in Rajasthan on September 27.
During the meeting, the central leaders assessed the current political scenario in the state, gathered feedback from state leaders, and will be releasing the candidate list soon.
The first list of candidates for both Congress and BJP in the state is expected to be released by October 10. The Central Election Committee meeting of BJP has already taken place, while the Congress Working Committee meeting is currently underway in New Delhi and is being attended by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, and other senior leaders.
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