Party at Centre invariably wrests control in Haryana

Empirical data of elections in Haryana over the last two decades suggests that the electorate has always preferred to vote for the party in the state that is at the helm in the Centre.

If this data is anything to go by, the BJP emerges as favourites to win the ensuing Assembly elections with the saffron party rule in the national capital. The state BJP, besides coining its own election campaign strategy to take on its political adversaries in the run-up to the October 21 polls, is also strongly rooting itself among the electorate based on this chronology.

The BJP-led NDA swept the nation in the 2014 general election paving the way for Narendra Modi to become the prime minister. A few months later in the Haryana Assembly elections, the BJP romped home to a victory for the first time ever on its own.

Prior to 2014 when the Congress-led UPA remained in power at the Centre for a decade under Manmohan Singh as the prime minister, the grand old party in Haryana retained power under Bhupinder Singh Hooda as the chief minister for two consecutive terms.

The same voting pattern was observed in the 1999 general election when the BJP won the elections with Atal Bihari Vajpayee as the prime minister. The Haryana BJP, then in coalition with Om Prakash Chautala’s INLD, not only won all the 10 Lok Sabha seats, it went ahead to form the government along with the INLD in Assembly polls.

The results of the recent Lok Sabha elections in Haryana has bolstered the BJP prospects. The BJP under Modi not only wrested power at the Centre but also won all the 10 seats in Haryana independently under Manohar Lal Khattar as the chief minister.

The state saffron party has now embarked upon ‘Mission 75’ hoping to win as many seats in the state Assembly.