Olympian Krishna Poonia, who won the gold medal in discus-throw in the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games, is among the candidates fielded by the Congress for the remaining six Lok Sabha constituencies in Rajasthan. The party had released its first list for 19 of the 25 seats in the State on March 28. Ms. Poonia, elected from Churu district’s Sadulpur in the 2018 Assembly polls, will take on BJP’s Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, who won silver for shooting in the 2004 Olympic Games, in Jaipur Rural in one of the State’s most keenly watched electoral battles. The BJP has so far announced the candidates for 19 constituencies in the State. No nominations were filed on Tuesday, the opening day for filing of papers for the April 29 polling in 13 constituencies. Businessman Riju Jhunjhunwala, married to singer Amrita Kak, has been fielded from Ajmer. Former MP Bharat Ram Meghwal, who was denied the ticket in 2014, will fight the polls from Sriganganagar.
Devkinandan Gujjar, president of Rajsamand District Congress Committee and former Zila Parishad member, has been fielded from Rajsamand. Rampal Sharma, former Urban Improvement Trust chairperson, will be the Congress candidate in Bhilwara and Pramod Sharma, who joined Congress before the Assembly election last year, will contest in Jhalawar-Baran.
