Congress Campaigns Against Own Candidate On This Seat In Rajasthan

The second phase of the ongoing polls is set to take place on April 26.

Voting will take place across India in seven phases till June 1, while counting will take place on June 4.

Source : Getty

Lok Sabha Elections: In an unusual turn of events in the tribal-dominated Banswara-Dungarpur Lok Sabha constituency in Rajasthan, the Congress is appealing to the people not to vote for its candidate. This comes after the grand old party decided to support Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) candidate Rajkumar Roat a day before the last date of withdrawal of nominations, despite fielding its candidate Arvind Damor.

After the Congress announced its support for the BAP, Damor was supposed to withdraw his nomination papers, but he was nowhere to be seen till the last date of withdrawal of nominations was over, as reported by news agency PTI. Later, Damor appeared before the media and declared that he would contest the election.

Following Damor's decision to not withdraw his nomination, the contest on the Banswara-Dungarpur seat has turned into a three-way fight instead of a bipolar contest between the BJP and the Congress-BAP alliance. Damor is likely to divide the Congress votes, giving an edge to saffron party candidate Mahendrajit Singh Malviya.

While the local leadership of the grand old party has appealed to the people to vote for Roat instead of their candidate, Damor has claimed that he has the support of a section of the party leaders who are against the alliance with the BAP, as reported by PTI. Vikas Bamnia, a district-level leader, and the son of Congress MLA Arjun Bamnia, said the party was supporting Roat. “Our stand is clear, we are supporting the BAP candidate. We are working keeping in mind the sentiments of the people and the directions received from the party,” Bamnia said, as quoted by PTI.

Another local Congress leader said, “We are asking people clearly to not vote for the Congress candidate (Damor).” Although several local residents told PTI that the contest was primarily between Malviya and Roat, some were of the view that Damor's refusal to toe the party line was embarrassing for the Congress, as reported by PTI. BAP was established in southern Rajasthan ahead of the 2023 assembly elections. The party has three MLAs, including Roat. Banswara-Dungarpur is a reserved seat for Scheduled Tribes and will go to polls in the second phase of Lok Sabha elections on Friday.

The second phase of the ongoing polls is set to take place on April 26. Voting will take place across India in seven phases till June 1, while counting will take place on June 4.