The Congress on April 5 fielded a fresh face, Arvind Damor, as its candidate from the Banswara-Dungarpur seat in Rajasthan for the Lok Sabha election. With this, the Congress has announced its candidates for all the 25 Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan.
Mr. Damor, at present serving as State Youth Congress general secretary, filed his nomination papers on the last day of the schedule. Earlier in the day, the Congress announced former Minister and three-time Banswara MLA Arjun Singh Bamaniya as its candidate from the seat reserved for Scheduled Tribes, but he did not file his nomination in a strange turn of events.
The Congress had tried to negotiate with the Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) for a possible alliance but had not been successful. The BAP, which has emerged as a force to reckon with in the tribal-dominated districts in southern Rajasthan, has announced its founder-member and Chorasi MLA Rajkumar Roat as its candidate from Banswara-Dungarpur. The BJP has fielded Congress turncoat and former Minister Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya in the constituency.
The emergence of the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP), followed by the BAP, has posed a challenge to both the Congress and the BJP in Banswara, Udaipur, Dungarpur and Pratapgarh districts. The BAP came up on the electoral scene in the State in 2023, winning three Assembly seats in Banswara and Dungarpur districts.
The BAP emerged as a splinter group from the Gujarat-based BTP, with most of its leaders having been associated with the BTP earlier. The BTP had won two seats in the 2018 Assembly election. Mr. Roat, a two-time MLA, is known for his strong views on the rights of tribal people in the Tribal Sub-Plan area and reservation for the tribal communities.
Immediately after the Congress declared Mr. Bamaniya as its candidate Thursday morning, Mr. Roat posted a message on X, asking the party to reconsider its decision. “If Congress leaves the Banswara-Dungarpur seat in the INDIA bloc and supports BAP, we and all the voters here will be grateful to the [Congress] high command and will ensure the BJP’s defeat,” he said.
According to the sources in the Pradesh Congress Committee, there was a possibility of entering into a pact with the BAP till the last date for withdrawal of nominations. The Congress has the option of not giving the party symbol to Mr. Damor and extending support to Mr. Roat till April 8, when the candidates can take back their names.
The Banswara-Dungarpur seat will witness a triangular fight if Mr. Damor remains in the contest. The alliance talks reportedly failed because the Congress was unwilling to concede anything more than one seat, while the BAP had sought Banswara and Udaipur in Rajasthan and three Lok Sabha seats in other States.
The BAP’s support base has been growing in southern Rajasthan because of its emphasis on the tribal identity, demand for a separate State for the tribal Bhil community and the promise of 75% reservation for the tribal population in education and jobs. Both the Congress and the BJP have been unable to match the BAP on these issues.
The Congress has entered into an alliance with the CPI(M) in Sikar and the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) in Nagaur for the Lok Sabha polls. The CPI(M)’s Amra Ram has been fielded as an INDIA bloc candidate from Sikar and the RLP’s Hanuman Beniwal from Nagaur.
