‘No consent taken’: Congress candidate for Rajasthan’s Rajsamand LS seat refuses to contest

Jaipur: Congress candidate for Rajasthan’s Rajsamand seat, Sudarshan Singh Rawat on Wednesday announced his refusal to contest the Lok Sabha elections and urged the party to nominate a “capable candidate” in his place.

Rawat, after returning from a foreign trip, announced his withdrawal from the election.

He also wrote to state Congress President Govind Singh Dotasara, expressing his displeasure at making him a candidate without his consent.

In his letter, he said: “In the last one month, I expressed my inability to contest the Lok Sabha elections several times to all the top leaders of the state during discussions about the Lok Sabha elections. It was my personal opinion that despite the historic development work, I do not have the moral right to contest the Lok Sabha elections just four months after the defeat in the last assembly elections and it is also not logical that I should contest the Lok Sabha elections. Nor did I have any strategic preparation regarding it.”

“On the evening of 25th March, I got the news of my candidature on social media, which was a matter of surprise for me. I again request the top leadership of the Congress Party to give a chance to some capable and interested candidate in my place. This step of mine may have hurt the sentiments of my supporters, well-wishers and party leadership, for which I apologise.”

After the ticket from Rajsamand was announced on March 25, Rawat did not even thank the high command on social media or give any reaction as he was travelling abroad.

Rawat had won the elections from the Bhim Assembly seat, a part of the Rajsamand constituency, in 2018 but was defeated in 2023.

His father Laxman Singh was a minister in the previous Ashok Gehlot government. His grandfather Major Fateh Singh (retd) has also been an MLA.

–IANS