Jaipur: Chaos prevailed in Congress on the final day of nominations for state’s urban local body polls, with the party’s strategy of delaying candidate lists to contain rebellion. While shortlisted candidates were asked to file nomination papers without disclosing their names publicly, at least two Congress candidates in Kota missed the deadline.In Jaipur, Congress kept its list for all 150 municipal wards under wraps even as shortlisted nominees filed their papers Monday. Several candidates were reportedly asked to submit nomination forms but keep their candidature confidential until the party made its formal announcement. The party finally released the list at 6 pm, but the move appeared to have done little to quell the discontent among ticket aspirants.Party leaders said this was the first time Congress had delayed the Jaipur list until after the nomination process. Defending the strategy, Adarsh Nagar MLA Rafeek Khan said the party was trying to prevent BJP from exploiting discontent among those denied tickets.The last-minute process had direct consequences in Kota, where two Congress women candidates failed to file their nominations. Ward 3 candidate Nirma Kumari said she initially went to the wrong location and reached the designated centre later, but was asked to leave at 3.01 pm. Ward 96 candidate Chandrakala Yadav said the party symbol arrived at the last minute, leaving her scrambling to arrange the required documents. She reached about two minutes late and could not file her nomination.In Osian, former Congress MLA Divya Maderna staged a dharna, alleging that BJP MLA Bhairaram Siyol remained inside the returning officer’s room even after the nomination deadline had ended. Maderna was still protesting when the latest reports came in.In Pali, Congress district president Shishupal Singh Rajpurohit faced protests from workers angry over ticket distribution. Protesters reportedly chased him into a private hospital and later gathered outside it. Police intervened and dispersed them.Ticket-related tensions also turned violent in Fatehpur, where supporters of two groups clashed outside the SDM office during the nomination process. Sticks and lathis were used, leaving around six people injured. One of the injured was reportedly referred for further treatment.In Udaipur, Congress rebel Devendra Mali filed his nomination from Ward 54 after being denied a party ticket. He alleged that the party had ignored his long association with the ward in favour of an outsider and said he would not withdraw his nomination.In Sojat, husband and wife Balmukund Gehlot and Manju filed Congress nominations from Wards 38 and 32, respectively. Both had previously served as councillors.Except in a few cases, Congress followed the same strategy across most of the 309 urban local bodies, keeping candidates guessing till the last minute. Many aspirants were caught off guard when they received calls from party leaders and were asked to rush to nomination centres with the required documents.In several places, candidates waited outside nomination offices for hours, expecting a call from Congress leaders confirming their candidature. While some were lucky enough to receive the call and file their papers, others waited in vain and never got the party’s confirmation before the deadline.
