Haryana going the BJP way, Hooda loses steam

CHANDIGARH: The Modi wave has helped the saffron party’s lotus bloom in Haryana’s Jatland as the party is on course to register a landslide victory on all the 10 parliamentary seats. The BJP will gain three seats this time as it had won seven in the 2014 elections.
Haryana interestingly has maintained the previous trend of its voters always going with the wave at the Centre.The impact of the Modi wave reflected in the leads of almost all the BJP nominees, as most of them are leading with huge margins.
This is for the second time the saffron party will win all Lok Sabha seats in Haryana. In 1999, the BJP had contested in alliance with INLD and the alliance had won all the 10 seats in the state.
The results have also validated the leadership of Manohar Lal Khattar, a pracharak of Rashtriya Savyamsevak Sangh (RSS), who was directly made the state’s chief minister after the October 2014 assembly polls. The trends have indicated that Khattar performed well as CM and earned goodwill by seeking to curb corruption, especially in recruitment for government jobs, upgrading infrastructure and implementing welfare schemes.
Former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, considered one of the most influential leaders in the state, is on course to lose in Sonipat. Even his son and three-time MP Deepender Singh Hooda is not expected to retain Rohtak.
All the candidates of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), which was the state’s main opposition party till recently, are on course to lose their deposits on all the 10-seats. The INLD had won two seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Sitting Hisar MP Dushyant Chautala’s Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), which had contested all the 10 seats in alliance with Aam Adami Party (AAP), also failed to impress voters. Barring Dushyant, all the nine candidates of the alliance will lose their deposits. The AAP’s main face in Haryana, Navin Jaihind too will not even secure his security deposit in Faridabad.
Haryana Congress president Ashok Tanwar too could not fare well in Sirsa and former Union minister and senior Congress leader, Kumari Selja is on course to lose from Ambala (reserved) seat.
The voters also rejected former Haryana chief minister Bansi Lal’s granddaughter Shruti Chaudhary in Bhiwani-Mahendergarh and she is expected to lose for the second time consecutively.
The results have also come as threat to the political future of former Haryana CM Bhajan Lal’s family as his grandson Bhavya Bishnoi is expected to face a humiliating defeat from Hisar. Bhavya finished third from the seat where BJP’s Brijendra Singh was leading by over 2 lakh votes from his nearest opponent Dushyant Chautala. In 2014 elections, Bhavya’s father Kuldeep Bishnoi had lost to Dushyant Chautala from this seat.
The BSP, which had contested all 10 seats in alliance with Loktantra Suraksha Party, failed to replicate its social engineering formula in Haryana as all the BSP candidates lost their security deposits. The BSP’s alliance partner and outgoing Kurukshetra MP Raj Kumar Saini also failed to dent the BJP’s prospects in the state, as Nayab Saini and a cabinet minister in Manohar Lal Khattar government is on course to win the Kurukshetra seat for the saffron party.
The expected victory of the candidates like Rattan Lal Kataria from Ambala and Dharambir Singh from Bhiwani-Mahendergarh, who were facing criticism from voters during campaigning has come as a surprise for all. According to political experts, the appeal by BJP president Amit Shah and other campaigners, seeking votes for Modi rather than the local candidates helped the party.
Over 70% of around 1.80 crore voters in electorate had cast their franchise for state’s 10 Lok Sabha constituencies on May 12. A total of 223 candidates including 11 women, were in the fray.