The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has sought to play an emotional card by fielding former Minister Kiran Maheshwari’s daughter from the Rajsamand seat, which is among the three Assembly constituencies going to by-elections in Rajasthan on April 17. The Opposition party released the list of its candidates late on Thursday night.
Veterans, novice
The BJP’s candidates for bypolls are a mix of veterans and a novice, as the party has fielded former Ministers Ratanlal Jat from Sahara (Bhilwara) and Khemaram Meghwal from Sujangarh (Churu). Rajsamand is the only constituency among the three where the BJP candidate had won in the 2018 Assembly election.
Rajsamand candidate Deepti Maheshwari, 34, who expects to win riding on the sympathy wave, is the daughter of Ms. Kiran Maheshwari, a three-time MLA, former MP and former State Minister, who died due to COVID-19 infection in November last year. The late BJP leader served as the party’s national secretary in 2011 and national vice-president in 2013.
The BJP has opted for veteran leader Khemaram Meghwal, 55, from Sujangarh, which fell vacant following the death of Congress MLA and Minister Bhanwarlal Meghwal.
Mr. Khemaram has been a two-time MLA from Sujangarh as well as a Minister of State, having a three-decade-long experience in politics in the State’s Shekhawati region.
Two-time MLA
Ratanlal Jat, 73, who was the Higher Education Minister in the Bhairon Singh Shekhawat government, is also an experienced leader. He was elected an MLA twice from Sahara and was later appointed Zila Pramukh of Bhilwara and chairperson of the Rajasthan State Seeds Corporation. He is at present a member of the BJP’s State working committee.
