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2024 Lok Sabha polls: RLD out to win back its former pocket borough Baghpat
The RLD, which is in alliance with the BJP, has fielded loyalist Rajkumar Sangwan from Baghpat that was represented by former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh
Winning back its former pocket borough Baghpat is among the Rashtriya Lok Dal’s (RLD) top concerns in the Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh, where voting will be held in seven phases beginning April 19.
The RLD, which is in alliance with the BJP, has fielded loyalist Rajkumar Sangwan from Baghpat that was represented by former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh at least thrice in the past and then by his son and Jayant Chaudhary’s father Ajit Singh a dozen times between 1989 and 2009. Baghpat goes to polls in the second phase on April 26.
This is the first time since 1977, when no one from Chaudhary Charan Singh’s family is contesting from Baghpat.
Chaudhary Charan Singh, who was born at a village in Hapur district, began his political career from Chhaprauli, an assembly segment under the Baghpat Lok Sabha constituency in 1937.
However, the party had to face back-to-back humiliating defeats in 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Baghpat.
In 2014, party founder former Union minister Ajit Singh lost to the BJP’s Satya Pal Singh, a former Mumbai police commissioner. And in 2019, Ajit Singh’s son and current Jayant Chaudhary lost to the same candidate.
Baghpat had become a tough seat for the party with a rural base after much of the urban area became part of the constituency following delimitation, according to a senior RLD leader.
“Now, with the BJP on our side, we are sure to regain our traditional seat with a landslide,” he claimed.
