Other States - Rajasthan   

Return to constituencies, Ministers told

By Our Special Correspondent

JAIPUR OCT. 27 . A majority of the members of the Rajasthan Council of Ministers have been asked to leave the State Capital for their respective constituencies to start their campaign for the Assembly elections on December 1. Even as the list of the Congress party nominees for the elections awaits clearance, the Chief Minister, Ashok Gehlot, summoned them personally on the eve of the Diwali to give them the go-ahead signal.

On his return from Delhi after a four-day stint finalizing the party's nominees in consultation with the Central Election Committee, the Screening Committee and the senior leaders of the party this week-end, Mr. Gehlot had hinted that most of the sitting MLAs would get re-nomination. This was against the backdrop of a demand from a group of partymen to drop a sizable number of 155 sitting party MLAs. The AICC (I) Committees had finalized a list of 100 constituencies (of the total 200 seats in Rajasthan) where only single candidates remained in the reckoning. However, it seems that but for the Ministers others have not been communicated about their nomination as the party proposes to release the first list only by the beginning of November.

However, not all of the 38 Ministers are going to pass the muster without any hiccup. If one goes by the broad guidelines adopted for the selection of party candidates, currently senior men like the Deputy Chief Minister, Banwarilal Bairwa, may not prove eligible. In the Tonk parliamentary by-election two years back Mr.Bairwa had lost to the Union Minister of State, Kailash Meghwal. Mr.Bairwa then had polled less than his rival even in his Assembly segment of Niwai (SC). The party guidelines say that those who lost the previous Lok Sabha election as well as those who lost two consecutive Lok Sabha/Assembly elections would not be considered for party nomination.

The guidelines say that even those MLAs in whose constituency the party had lagged behind by over 10,000 votes in the previous two Lok Sabha elections would not be considered for a ticket. However, in defence of Mr.Bairwa one should say that he was a reluctant candidate for the Tonk (SC) Lok Sabha by-election and it was the party which wanted him to fight and not he.

Apart from the other critical parameters like not having chargesheeted by Lokayukt or such Commissions or committees, or had not been a rebel candidate in the previous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections a major consideration for reckoning in the coming elections would be age. There are 31 MLAs in the outgoing Rajasthan Assembly who are above 70 years of age.

In the light of the observations already made by the senior party leader, Natwar Singh in this regard -- that those above 70 years should retire from electoral politics -- a good number of senior party MLAs will be out of eligibility.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Other States

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• Return to constituencies, Ministers told

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu