The Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) on March 25 announced its supremo Hanuman Beniwal as the INDIA bloc candidate for the Lok Sabha election from Rajasthan’s Nagaur seat following an alliance formed with the Opposition Congress. Mr. Beniwal — elected as an MLA from Nagaur district’s Khinvsar in 2023 — is likely to file his nomination papers on March 27.
The Congress had left the Nagaur seat for the RLP in the list of candidates released on Saturday. The two parties entered into an alliance in the State after intense negotiations lasting several days amid doubts created by the resignation of Mr. Beniwal’s close confidant Ummeda Ram Beniwal from the RLP and his entry into the Congress.
Mr. Ummeda Ram, who lost to Congress MLA Harish Chaudhary by a thin margin of 910 votes in the 2023 Assembly election in Baytu, was considered a prominent face of RLP in the border districts of Barmer and Balotra. The Congress has fielded him as its candidate from the Barmer Lok Sabha seat.
