Shanti Kumar Dhariwal has a “development-focussed approach and is a proven people’s representative”, the Congress party has said, justifying a ticket to the senior minister whose name was finally announced from Kota (North) in Rajasthan just 24 hours before the deadline to file nominations. His candidature was opposed till then by Congress’s Sachin Pilot.
Dhariwal is a close aide of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and had led the revolt last year when the Congress High Command tried to make Pilot the Chief Minister. Dhariwal and other MLAs had submitted their resignations to the Speaker.
As per the latest Election Commission of India (ECI) rules, a party must publicly declare why it is giving a ticket to a person facing a pending criminal case. In one case, the party had filed a declaration regarding Dhariwal as a Special Leave Petition is pending against him in the Supreme Court.
“The candidate (Dhariwal) has been an elected representative for a long time. He has been a member of Parliament and the Legislative Assembly in the past. The candidate is a sitting MLA and a minister in the government and is known for his development-focused approach. The candidate has carried out massive developmental works across the state of Rajasthan and the recently inaugurated Chambal riverfront in Kota has been one of the examples of his work,” the Congress party has said in its declaration.
The Chambal riverfront project in Kota has, in fact, been under a cloud of controversy as Gehlot had skipped coming to its inauguration earlier this year after it was alleged that no environmental clearance had been taken to build the project in an eco-sensitive zone. The BJP has alleged massive corruption in the project as well.
It is believed that the Congress High Command and Pilot were not in favour of giving a ticket to Dhariwal earlier, but Gehlot finally prevailed to get him a ticket. An SLP in a case is pending against him in the Supreme Court.
“The candidate (Dhariwal) was not named in any FIR and his name did not crop up during any investigation but a protest petition was filed in the High Court which named him as an accused. However, Rajasthan High Court dismissed the said protest petition. Now an appeal against the High Court verdict is pending in the Supreme Court,” the Congress party has justified in its declaration.
“This clearly shows there is no genuine ingredient in the case which is why the High Court dismissed it. Such infructuous litigation should not stop a proven people’s representative from carrying out his developmental work in future which is why the Congress party has decided to field him again from this seat,” the Congress party has further said.
Dhariwal is the sitting MLA from the Kota (North) seat and is facing BJP’s Prahlad Gunjal in the electoral contest.
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