Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje will contest from Jhalrapatan, a seat she has won since 2003

The BJP announced its first list of candidates for the Rajasthan assembly elections late on Sunday. Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje will contest from Jhalrapatan, a seat she has represented since 2003. However, a number of sitting legislators have been dropped or shifted. For instance Kailash Meghwal, the speaker in the outgoing Rajasthan assembly has been shifted from Shahpura in Bhilwara district to Pilani in Jhunjhunu district.

The names were announced by senior party leader JP Nadda following a meeting of the BJP central election committee which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party president Amir Shah, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje besides other top leaders.

The party has also fielded its Lok Sabha lawmaker from Barmer Sona Ram Choudhary.

Mr Nadda said the party has fielded 25 new faces.

BJP sources told Press Trust of India that 85 sitting legislators have found their names on the first list.

"Party candidates for all the seats were discussed in the meeting. Names of other nominees will be announced soon," Mr Nadda told reporters.

The BJP is facing a strong challenge from a resurgent Congress in the state with the opposition party winning a number of by-polls in the last couple of years.

A number of opinion polls have also given an edge to the Congress but the BJP insists that it will be able to repulse the opposition's challenge.

The BJP under Ms Raje won a whopping 163 of the 200 assembly seats in the state in 2013, giving the Congress its worst ever drubbing at its hands.

For the last two decades, Rajasthan seen the incumbent party being voted out.

(With inputs from PTI)