Govind Singh Dotasra, the current chief of the Congress party's Rajasthan unit, faces a key challenge this election - he has to retain his seat against a former colleague. The BJP has fielded former Union Minister and three-time MP Subhash Maharia, who rejoined the party after quitting from the Congress earlier this year, from the Laxmangarh constituency - the seat held by Mr Dotasra since 2008.
Their contest would also recreate the fight for this hot seat ten years ago, when these leaders faced each other in the electoral battle. In 2013, the two prominent Jat leaders came face-to-face. That contest ended in a bitter loss for Mr Maharia as Mr Dotasra retained his constituency by more than ten thousand votes. He managed to keep his seat in an election his party lost more than 160 seats in the state.
Mr Dotasra started his political journey through the Congress' student wing NSUI, went on to be elected as Pradhan of the Laxmangarh Panchayat Samiti in 2005 and later in 2008, won the seat of Laxmangarh in the state assembly election.
The 59-year-old won the 2018 Rajasthan assembly election - his third win of the Laxmangarh seat - with a margin of 22,052 votes, which was the highest in Sikar district.
Mr Dotasra was appointed the Minister of State for primary and secondary education and Tourism and Devasthan in 2018 Rajasthan government. In 2021, he resigned from his ministry post respecting the party's "one man, one post" policy after he was named the chief of the Congress's Rajasthan unit after Sachin Pilot's rebellion. As the Rajasthan Congress president, the Ashok Goyal loyalist was handed over the reins that were in Mr Pilot's hands for the last six years.
Last year, he was one of the more than 90 MLAs who threatened to resign after Ashok Gehlot was asked by the party high command to give up the post of Rajasthan Chief Minister to contest the Congress president polls, in line with the party's "one person, one post" policy.
Mr Dotasra recently made headlines after the Enforcement Directorate raided his premises in Jaipur and Sikar as part of a money laundering probe into the alleged recruitment exam paper leak case. The state Congress chief has denied any wrongdoing. "Satyamev Jayate (truth alone triumphs)," he had posted on X after the raids.
The raids were also slammed by Mr Gehlot who compared the ED raids to "tiddi dal (locust swarm)".
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