Rashtriya Lok Dal
AbbreviationRLD
ChairpersonJayant Chaudhary[1]
FounderAjit Singh
Founded1996 (1996)
Split fromJanata Dal
Preceded byLok Dal
HeadquartersAB 97, Shahjahan Road, New Delhi, 110011
IdeologyRegionalism[2]
Jats upliftment[3]
Farmers' rights[4]
ECI StatusUnrecognised party[5]
AllianceCurrent

Previously

  • NDA (1999-2003, 2009-2011),
  • MGB(2018-2019),
  • UPA (2018-2023)
Seats in Lok Sabha
0 / 543
Seats in Rajya Sabha
1 / 245
Seats in Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly
9 / 403
Seats in Rajasthan Legislative Assembly
1 / 200
Number of states and union territories in government
0 / 31
Election symbol
Party flag
Website
www.rashtriyalokdal.com

Rashtriya Lok Dal (abbreviated as RLD) (translation: National People's Party) is an Indian regional political party in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. It was founded by Chaudhary Ajit Singh, son of the former prime minister of India, Chaudhary Charan Singh in 1996 as a breakaway faction of the Janata Dal.[6][7]

History

Ajit Singh was re-elected in 1996 as a Congress candidate but resigned from the party and Lok Sabha. He then founded Bharatiya Kisan Kamgar Party and was re-elected from Baghpat in 1997 by-election.[8][9]

In 1999, he relaunched his party with the name Rashtriya Lok Dal.[9][10] While Singh lost the 1998 election and was re-elected in 1999, 2004 and 2009. From 2001 to 2003, he was Minister of Agriculture in Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government.[11] After his party joined the ruling United Progressive Alliance in 2011, he was Minister of Civil Aviation from December 2011 to May 2014.[11][12] In 2019 Indian general election, He contested from Muzaffarnagar but lost to Sanjeev Balyan of BJP by a very small margin of 6526 votes.[11][13]

RLD couldn't make any strong presence from 2014 to 2022 even losing its traditional seats.[14][15] On the other hand, the party was able to win 9 of 33 seats in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election which it contested in alliance with Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh which gave boost to the party life.[16][17]

RLD party office bearers

Electoral history

Lok Sabha (Lower House)

Term Indian
General Election
Seats
contested
Seats
won
% of
votes
12th Lok Sabha 1998 8 0 -
13th Lok Sabha 1999 7 2 0.37%
14th Lok Sabha 2004 10 3 0.63%
15th Lok Sabha 2009 7 5 0.44%
16th Lok Sabha 2014 8 0 0.13%
17th Lok Sabha 2019 3 0[18] 0.24%

Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha (Lower House)

Term
Assembly Election
Seats
contested
Seats
won
% of
votes
13th Legislative assembly 1996 38 8 2.13%
14th Legislative assembly 2002 38 14 2.65%
15th Legislative assembly 2007 254 10 1.95%
16th Legislative assembly 2012 46 9 2.33%
17th legislative assembly 2017 171 1 1.71%
18th Legislative assembly 2022 33 9 5.18%

Legislative members

Rajyasabha members (MPs)

No. Name Term in office Constituency
1 Jayant Chaudhary 25 May 2021 Incumbent Uttar Pradesh

Vidhan sabha members (MLAs)

No. Name Constituency State
1 Dr. Subhash Garg Bharatpur Rajasthan
2 Rajpal Singh Baliyan Budhana Uttar Pradesh
3 Persann Chaudhary Shamli
4 Ajay Kumar Chhaprauli
5 Pradeep Kumar Singh Sadabad
6 Ghulam Mohammad Siwalkhas
7 Ashraf Ali Khan Thana Bhawan
8 Chandan Chauhan Meerapur
9 Anil Kumar Purqazi
10 Madan Bhaiya Khatauli

List of ministers in union government

No. Name Term in office Portfolio Prime Minister
1 Chaudhary Ajit Singh 22 July 2001 24 May 2003 Minister of Agriculture Atal Bihari Vajpayee
18 December 2011 26 May 2014 Minister of Civil Aviation Manmohan Singh

List of ministers in state governments

Rajasthan

No. Name Term in office Portfolio Chief Minister
1 Subhash Garg 2018 2023 State Minister of Technical Education (I.C.), Ayurveda & Indian Medicines (I.C.), Public Grivences & Redressal (I.C.), Minority Affairs Waqf, Colonisation Agriculture Command Area, Development & Water Utilisation Ashok Gehlot

See also

References

  1. "Jayant Chaudhary appointed new RLD president". The Economic Times.
  2. "Obituary: Ajit Singh Braved All Odds But Never Sacrificed His Secular Ideology". 11 January 2022.
  3. "RLD: SP, RLD release first list of 29, field 9 Jats & 9 yadavs | Uttar-Pradesh Election News - Times of India". The Times of India. 14 January 2022.
  4. "RLD: SP, RLD release first list of 29, field 9 Jats & 9 yadavs | Uttar-Pradesh Election News - Times of India". The Times of India. 14 January 2022.
  5. "Big blow to RLD from Election Commission, snatched the status of state level party Dated 10.04.2023". India: Patrika. 2013. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  6. BKKP, RLD merge with Lok Dal
  7. "रालोद के अध्यक्ष चौधरी अजित सिंह का कोरोना से निधन, मेदांता अस्पताल में थे भर्ती". Zee News Hindi (in Hindi). 6 May 2021. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  8. "Ajit Singh". India Today. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
  9. 1 2 "Explained: Jats and the BJP in Uttar Pradesh". The Indian Express. 29 January 2022. Archived from the original on 29 January 2022. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
  10. Yadav, Nicholas (6 May 2021). "A Tribute To Chaudhary Ajit Singh". Outlook.
  11. 1 2 3 "Ajit Singh: Age, Biography, Education, Wife, Caste, Net Worth & More - Oneindia". hindi.oneindia.com (in Hindi). Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  12. "RLD leader Ajit Singh sworn-in as Civil Aviation Minister". The Economic Times. 19 December 2011. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
  13. "RLD Chief Ajit Singh Files Nomination from UP's Muzaffarnagar".
  14. "RLD's political journey comes full circle in 24 years of its existence". The Times of India. 13 April 2023. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
  15. Scroll Staff (24 May 2019). "2019 results: Ajit Singh and son Jayant Chaudhary of Rashtriya Lok Dal lose close contests in UP". Scroll.in. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
  16. "Ties strained, RLD sends SP a signal: Wants 12 seats in LS polls". The Indian Express. 9 July 2023. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
  17. "U.P. Assembly polls: RLD finds some of its lost mojo in west". The Hindu. 10 March 2022. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
  18. "RLD undeterred by Lok Sabha results". The Economic Times. 26 May 2019. ISSN 0013-0389. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
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