Electors give smaller parties a snub
Though INLD leader Abhay Chautala won from Ellenabad by a margin of 11,922 votes, its another candidate Dilbag Singh gave a tough fight to BJP’s Ghansham Dass in Yamunanagar
Karnal/Chandigarh Voters of Haryana outrightly rejected the smaller and regional parties, with Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) being the only exception. Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), Loktantra Suraksha Party (LSP), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) — all failed to impress the voters. However, the presence of candidates of the smaller made the contest stiffer in some seat.
The biggest setback was for the INLD that won only one seat even as it was the principal opposition party in 2014 with 19 seats. INLD’s vote share shrunk from 24% in 2014 to 2.37%.
Though INLD leader Abhay Chautala won from Ellenabad by a margin of 11,922 votes, its another candidate Dilbag Singh gave a tough fight to BJP’s Ghansham Dass in Yamunanagar. “The INLD paid a heavy price for the split and the support has shifted towards its offshoot JJP,” said political observer and retired professor of political science PD Sharma.
Saini’s LSP fails to open account
The Loktantra Suraksha Party (LSP) of former BJP MP Raj Kumar Saini could not open its account even as it had fielded candidates from 77 seats. LSP chief himself lost from Gohana by a margin of 4,100 votes. Saini, an open critic of Jat reservation, had formed LSP after the Jat quota violence in 2016. He was banking on the OBC votes in the state and had picked most of the candidates from backward communities.
In the Lok Sabha elections, the LSP-BSP alliance did not win a seat but their candidates remained at third position on six seats. But in this election both the LSP and the BSP decided to contest separately.
AAP’s unimpressive show
With only 0.48% vote share and 59,752 votes across the state, the Aam Aadmi Party helmed by Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was among the worst performers in the Haryana assembly election. The AAP had fielded 48 candidates and none of them was in real contest. AAP’s state president Naveen Jaihind did not fight the polls.
“People have rejected both LSP and AAP as they do not have any base in Haryana,” said Prof Sharma.
No seat, BSP vote share intact
Even though the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) failed to win a seat in Haryana, it could retain its vote share of about 4%.
The BSP state president Parkash Bharti said: “Our candidate finished second in Assandh, the party stood third in Ateli, Jagadhari, Hathin and Panipat segments.” In Kaithal, though BSP candidate Madan Lal announced his support to the Congress at the last moment, the BSP still was polled about 2,200 votes, Bharti said.
Meanwhile, the Swaraj India Party fared poorly and could bag less than 1,000 votes in most of the 27 seats it contested.
