Jaipur, November 18: The All India Minorities Front (AIMF) on Sunday decided to withdraw the nominations of its candidates in the upcoming Assembly polls in Rajasthan to help the "secular forces" defeat "communal elements" led by the Bharatiya Janata Party. At a meeting of the party's Parliamentary Board chaired by National President S.M. Asif, it was felt that fielding candidates may result in a division of secular votes. So, the party decided to extend support to the Congress.

The AIMF chief appealed to the voters to defeat "fundamentalist and communal forces". The party underlined that minorities, SCs, STs and OBCs had suffered the most under the BJP government. It also cautioned the members of the SC and ST communities against the designs of the BJP that was aiming at splitting SC and ST votes in the reserved constituencies. Rajasthan Assembly Elections 2018: Sachin Pilot, Rameshwar Dudi Engage in Verbal Spat in Front of Rahul Gandhi.

Rajasthan goes to polls on December 7 to elect a 200-member Assembly. Counting of votes and the declaration of results are scheduled for December 11.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 18, 2018 07:51 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).