Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) leader Hanuman Beniwal will be the India Alliance candidate from Nagaur Lok Sabha seat in Rajasthan. Under the agreement, Congress had left this seat for Hanuman Beniwal's party. He will face BJP candidate Dr. Jyoti Mirdha. Last time, Jyoti Mirdha was the Congress candidate on this seat and Hanuman Beniwal contested the elections with the support of BJP. Both the Jat leaders have changed sides this time.
The alliance of Congress with Left and Hanuman Beniwal's RLP can change the political equation in many seats of Rajasthan. Congress, which failed to form an alliance in the assembly elections, has left one seat each for RLP and CPM for the Lok Sabha elections, while it has given ticket to Umedaram Beniwal from RLP on Barmer seat. Congress has tried to woo Jat voters by making Rahul Kaswan, who left BJP, its candidate in Churu.
Hanuman Beniwal is considered a grassroots fighter. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, he defeated Congress candidate Jyoti Mirdha from Nagaur by about 2.25 lakh votes. But due to the farmers' movement in 2020, Beniwal broke ties with BJP. This time, with Hanuman Beniwal and Congress coming together, the path of BJP candidate Jyoti Mirdha will not be easy. However, Beniwal is also under siege on many fronts due to the change in party. A section of state Congress leaders was against the alliance with them. He has been making harsh statements against Congress leaders.
With Jyoti Mirdha leaving Congress and joining BJP and Hanuman Beniwal joining hands with Congress, the contest in Nagaur, the stronghold of Jat politics, is poised to become exciting. Congress is trying to woo Jat voters by taking Hanuman Beniwal along, whereas in BJP, Jyoti Mirdha is the main Jat face after former state president Satish Poonia was sidelined and Rahul Kaswan left the party in Churu.
This is the third time when Jyoti Mirdha and Hanuman Beniwal will face each other in the Lok Sabha elections. In 2014, Beniwal contested the elections as an Independent candidate and got more than 1.5 lakh votes. Then he was considered the reason for Jyoti Mirdha's defeat. BJP's CR Choudhary had won that election.
Jyoti Mirdha is the granddaughter of prominent leader of Rajasthan Nathuram Mirdha. After two consecutive defeats as Congress candidate, she joined BJP before the 2023 assembly elections. BJP made her its candidate from Nagaur Assembly. But she had to face defeat in the hands of Congress candidate Harendra Mirdha, son of veteran Congress leader Ramniwas Mirdha.
After parting ways with BJP, Hanuman Beniwal's party also could not perform well in the 2023 assembly elections. Only Beniwal could enter the assembly from RLP. But Jyoti Mirdha has been losing elections continuously since 2014. This time Hanuman Beniwal also faces the challenge of maintaining his dominance in Rajasthan politics.
The Mirdha family has dominated the Nagaur Lok Sabha seat for a long time. So far, Congress has been victorious there 11 times and BJP and its allies have been victorious four times. At present, out of eight assembly seats in Nagaur Lok Sabha constituency, Congress has MLAs on four, BJP on two and Independent and RLP MLAs on one seat each. It will be interesting to see who gets success in Nagaur this time. Voting for Nagaur Lok Sabha seat will be held in the first phase on April 19 .