The political landscape of Sojat, famous for Mehendi (henna), will have a bureaucratic colour as Congress has fielded former chief secretary Niranjan Arya from here. He will take on Shobha Chauhan from BJP.
Sojat, a part of Pali district, is a constituency reserved for scheduled caste.
Arya, a 1989 batch IAS officer is considered as Gehlot loyalist and has been serving as advisor to chief minister post superannuation in 2022.
Arya has the distinction of being the first chief secretary in the state from scheduled cast. A strong choice of Gehlot, he was made chief secretary by superseding 10 senior IAS officers. His role during combating Covid 19 was appreciated by everyone .
Arya was also elected as state chief commissioner of Bharat Scouts and Guides, a voluntary organisation for young people. Arya has been credited to organise national jamboree, the largest event of scouts and guides at Rohat in Pali earlier this year.
In 2013, Sangeeta Arya, wife of Niranjan Arya had also contested election from Sojat on Congress ticket. She had lost the election to Sanjana Agari of BJP. Later, Sangeeta Arya was made member of Rajasthan Public Service Commission in 2020 during this tenure of Ashok Gehlot.
Arya is considered a strong candidate looking at his background. BJP has repeated the winning candidate Shobha Chauhan who had defeated Shobha Solanki of Congress by a margin of over 32,000 votes.
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