The BJP announced its second list of 31 candidates for the Rajasthan assembly election, dropping 15 sitting MLAs, included three ministers. The BJP has so far announced the names of 162 candidates in the 200-member assembly.

Outgoing ministers Babulal Verma, Rajkumar Rinwa and Dhan Singh Rawat were denied party ticket this election.

BJP MLA Gyandev Ahuja, who hit the national headlines at the height of the JNU controversy in 2016 for his remarks that thousands of condoms were found on the university campus daily, was also dropped.

He represents Ramgarh in Alwar district in the current assembly.

Assembly election in Rajasthan will be held on December 7.

The BJP is facing a strong challenge from a resurgent Congress in the state with the opposition party winning a number of by-polls in the past couple of years.

A number of opinion polls has also given an edge to the Congress but the BJP has insisted that it will be able to repulse the opposition's challenge.

The saffron party under Vasundhara Raje had won a whopping 163 of the 200 assembly seats in the state in 2013, giving the Congress its worst ever drubbing.

The state has for the past two decades seen the incumbent party losing the assembly polls.

First Published:Nov 15, 2018 5:31 AM IST