Congress finalises names of Gehlot, Joshi and Vyas but announcement to be made later

New Delhi, Oct 31: Names of former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot, Union minister C P Joshi and Girija Vyas name have been cleared by Central Election Committee (CEC). These names are among 90 candidates of the Congress to be fielded by the Congress and cleared by Central Elections Committee.

However the Congress sources said that they will be announced at the right time as there is no hurry. Rajasthan Congress president Sacin Pilot has indicated that names of candidates on rest of the seats will be discussed from November 5, 2018. It is also possible that the Congress might announce name of all candidates for Rajasthan in one go together.

Sources said that leaders whose names have been cleared by the central election committee included some big leaders including MLAs and ministers in the governmentn. Former chief minister Ashok Gehlot, former Union minister C P Joshi, Girija Vyas, Lal Chandra Kataria, leader of opposition in the Rajasthan Assembly Rameshwar Dudi and former Lok Sabha MP Harish Choudhary are included in the list.

The CEC meeting that took place in New Delhi was attended by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi and national general secretary Ashok Gehlot besides some other senior leaders who are part of the CEC. Actually there was lack on unanimity among the Congress leaders if former MPs and leaders who had lost elections twice in a row should be given tickets or not but party has taken a call on it as this would have put many senior leaders out of the race. So there name has been considered but matter is still under consideration.