Congress leaves Nagaur for RLP as it announces two more names

Beniwal had resigned as a LS MP from Nagaur after being elected as an MLA from Khinvsar in Nagaur in December last year. Interestingly, if he contests, he will face BJP’s Jyoti Mirdha. This will be a reversal of their roles in 2019 LS polls when Jyoti Mirdha had contested from Nagaur as a Congress candidate while Beniwal had contested as a RLP candidate which was then a part of the BJP-led NDA umbrella.

After defeating Mirdha, Beniwal had parted ways with the BJP over the issue of farm laws. The RLP had also contested the 2023 Assembly elections along with the Chandra Shekhar Azad-led Azad Samaj Party (ASP). While they damaged the prospects of scores of candidates in the Assembly elections, they could win only one Assembly seat, that of Beniwal.

In Jaipur Rural, the Congress party has fielded party leader Anil Chopra. Chopra is currently a secretary in the state unit and is also the National coordinator of the party’s OBC department. Earlier, he was the president of Student’s Union at the University of Rajasthan and National Secretary at NSUI. The BJP is yet to announce a candidate for Jaipur Rural seat. In 2019, the BJP had fielded Col Rajyavardhan Rathore who defeated Krishna Poonia of Congress. Rathore has since been elected from Jhotwara in Jaipur and is currently a cabinet minister.

In Karauli-Dholpur, the party has fielded two-time MLA and former cabinet minister Bhajan Lal Jatav. In the elections last year, Jatav had lost from Weir Assembly seat in Bharatpur. The BJP is yet to announce a candidate on this seat. In 2019, the party had fielded Manoj Rajoria who had defeated Sanjay Kumar of Congress.

With the latest announcements, the Congress party has made its position clear on 19 seats  — including leaving two seats of Sikar and Nagaur to allies CPI (M) and RLP, respectively — out of a total of 25.