Blitz Bureau
THE BJP came back from behind to stop Congress’s celebrations on its tracks and snatch an incredible win for a historic third term in Haryana, defying all exit polls and pollsters’ predictions.
No party has won a third consecutive term in Haryana since its inception in 1966. The BJP won 48 of the 90 seats in the state, while the Congress had to be content with 37.
Om Prakash Chautala’s Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), once a powerhouse in Haryana, won two seats, while Dushyant Chautala-led Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), which aligned with the BJP in 2019, failed to open its account.
In the Muslim-dominated Nuh, all three seats were retained by the Congress. They are Aftab Ahmed from Nuh, Mohammad Ilyas from Punahana and Mamman Khan from Ferozepur Jhirka. Wrestler-turned-politician Vinesh Phogat won the Julana Assembly constituency by a margin of 6,015 votes.
Savitri Jindal, an Independent, secured victory from Hisar. She is India’s wealthiest woman and controls OP Jindal Group. She had earlier been twice a minister for nine years in the Bhupinder Hooda-led Congress government.
Exit polls had predicted a clean sweep for the Congress in Haryana, but the party’s missteps like banking heavily on Jat stalwart Bhupinder Singh Hooda and the sidelining Dalit leader Kumari Selja cost it the election, said several media reports. The consolidation of non-Jat votes by the BJP hurt the Congress further. The grand old party focused its efforts on wooing the Jat community and neglected the politically consequential Ahirwal belt, which comprises urban and industrial centres Gurugram, Faridabad, Rewari and Mahendragarh.
A key factor that could have contributed to the BJP’s success is the party’s strategy of fielding fresh candidates and expanding outreach to Other Backward Class (OBC) and Scheduled Caste (SC) communities. Nayab Singh Saini is being credited as the key architect behind the BJP’s success in Haryana. After replacing Manohar Lal Khattar as Chief Minister, Saini, an OBC, became the face of the BJP’s poll campaign.
His leadership is seen as instrumental in overcoming anti-incumbency and securing the party’s third consecutive term in the state. Refusing to accept the verdict, the Congress lodged a complaint with the Election Commission alleging “inordinate and unacceptable delay in updating trends” on its website. The EC dismissed the Congress’s charge as unsubstantiated. In a strongly-worded statement, the poll body said, it “unequivocally rejects” the party’s attempt to “surreptitiously give credence to irresponsible, unfounded and uncorroborated malafide narratives”.
