Congress's Fourth List Expected Soon in Rajasthan Assembly Elections

With the notification for the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly elections being issued on Monday, the electoral process in the state has officially begun. Several candidates filed their nomination papers on the very first day. However, both the Congress and the BJP are still keeping the release of the remaining candidate lists in suspense. So far, Congress has announced candidates for 95 seats, and BJP for 124, with the announcement of candidates for 105 Congress and 76 BJP seats pending.

On Monday, in New Delhi, the Central Election Committee meeting under the chairmanship of Congress's National President, Mallikarjun Kharge, discussed the names of the remaining candidates at length. The meeting lasted for about four hours and was attended by prominent leaders like Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Venugopal, and Salman Khurshid, along with Rajasthan's Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Pradesh Prabhari Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Pradesh President Govind Singh Dotasra, Screening Committee Chairman Gaurav Gogoi, and senior supervisor Madhusudan Mistry. 

It is said that during this meeting, extensive deliberations took place on the remaining 105 Congress candidates. Rahul Gandhi, in particular, asked several questions and sought information about the prospects of young and female candidates. It is reported that the final decision has been made on 70 candidates. Around thirty seats are yet to be decided. Another meeting might be held on Tuesday to finalize these candidates.

The Fourth List:
The fourth list is expected to contain the names of approximately 30 to 50 candidates. According to inside sources, the Congress party is using a specific strategy to release smaller candidate lists. The party believes that by nominating candidates at the last moment, the dissatisfied voices among the aspirants may be kept to a minimum. The last date for filing nominations is November 6th, and the official party symbol distribution for the final candidates will be completed by November 6th.

Rajasthan CM's Role:
Political pundits believe that Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot could find a way to include those who are either dissatisfied or involved in efforts to overthrow his government. They question why those who were involved in trying to bring down the government are still being given tickets while those who supported the government are being neglected. Rahul Gandhi has advised selecting young alternatives rather than senior leaders this time. Madhusudan Mistry has recommended cutting tickets for candidates affected by anti-incumbency factors.

ED Inquiry:
Post the Central Election Committee meeting, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot refused to respond to questions from the media about the list's release. However, his son and Rajasthan Cricket Board's President Vaibhav Gehlot is being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). A long interrogation that lasted nine hours was conducted by ED on Tuesday. This is even though the next hearing is scheduled for November 16th.

Upcoming BJP Meeting:
In the meantime, the BJP Core Committee meeting is scheduled for Tuesday in New Delhi, where the remaining BJP candidates for the 76 seats will be discussed. After the sealing of the BJP Central Election Committee's fate on November 1st, the list of official candidates will be released. It is likely that BJP might also withhold candidate names for a few seats, waiting to see the Congress list before making their final decision.

As a result, the candidates in Rajasthan are eagerly awaiting the release of their party's lists, and the suspense continues as political parties carefully consider their choices for the upcoming Assembly elections.