Haryana: BJP soars high amid clobbered opposition

Battle lines have been drawn for the assembly elections in Haryana on October 21 with the incumbent BJP appearing comfortably placed to take on a battered opposition struggling to cope up with internal strife and widespread desertions.

In Jat dominated Haryana, the saffron party has arguably managed to consolidate the majority non-Jat votes to its advantage, which became evident in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections when the BJP romped home to victory winning all the 10 seats. The saffron party managed a phenomenal 58% vote share in the recent general elections.

In the state assembly of 90 MLA’s, the BJP had won 47 seats in the last assembly elections in 2014, while the tally of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) was reduced to 19 seats. The Congress ended with a dismal 15 seats after having remained in power for a decade until 2014. BJP gains out of a dilapidated INLD and Congress.

The INLD is facing an existential crisis post a spit in the party owing to a family feud between the two Chautala brothers - Ajay and Abhay. In the last six months or so, the INLD, which was reduced to an astonishing 1.89% vote share in 2019, has been marred by major desertions even from several staunch loyalists. Majority of them have switched over to the BJP while some have preferred to join the Congress. The Janata Jananayak Party (JJP), carved out of the INLD, has successfully eroded the vote bank of the INLD leading to a split in the Jat votes.

The Congress battling serious internal strife all these years is a demoralized outfit hoping for revival of its political fortunes. Congresses best bet and former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda has faced a slew of cases from the CBI and police in the last 5-years. He is now in the saddle after he attempted to ‘browbeat’ his party high command into acceding to his demand to oust the state party chief and his bete noire Ashok Tanwar, a Dalit leader.

Congress top leaders, including Hooda, his four-time MP son Deepinder, state congress chief Kumari Selja, Ashok Tanwar all are recovering from the defeat in the Lok Sabha elections. The change of guard in the Congress has come about too late.

Haryana:

Total seats: 90

2014 Assembly Elections.

PARTY: SEATS:

BJP: 47.

INLD: 19.

Congress: 15.

HJC: 2.

BSP: 1.

SAD: 1.

Independents: 5.

2014 VOTE SHARE (Approx):

BJP: 33%

INLD: 24 %

Cong: 20 %

BSP: 4.30%