Elections 2019: In a battle of two Olympians, BJP’s Rathore up against Cong’s Poonia in Jaipur Rural seat
A total of 674 candidates are in the fray for 51 seats across 7 states in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha polls today, which will decide the fortunes of many political heavyweights like Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Congress President Rahul Gandhi.
In the constituency, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, who is the sitting BJP MP and minister with independent charge of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) and sports, will be up against the Congress’s Krishna Poonia , an international gold medallist in discus throw and a sitting MLA from Sadulpur in Rajasthan. While Rathore had won the silver medal in shooting in the 2004 Olympics, Poonia made her Olympic debut in discus throw that year and went on to compete in two subsequent editions of the games in 2008 and 2012. She finished sixth in the 2012 London Olympics, with her best throw of 63.62m coming in the fifth attempt. She also won gold in the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Rathore, who took voluntary retirement from the Indian Army in 2013 to join politics, is contesting the Lok Sabha polls for the second time. He has declared movable assets of 2.05 crore and 14 weapons, including ten 0.12 bore gun, one 0.357 pistol, one rifle, one 0.22 bore rifle and one 0.30 bore rifle.Among these, one key contest will be unfolding in the Jaipur Rural seat which will witness what is being touted as a battle of two Olympians.