Constituency profile: Rohtak Lok Sabha: Prestige battle for Hoodas after 2019 poll upset
The Congress has won the Lok Sabha elections 11 out of 18 times on this Jat dominated parliamentary seat. Bhupinder Singh Hooda has represented the Rohtak parliamentary seat four times, his father Ranbir Singh Hooda twice and son Deepender Hooda on three occasions.
The Rohtak parliamentary constituency in Haryana is considered a stronghold of former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his son Deepender Hooda, a three-time MP from Rohtak. He is a member of the Upper House now.
The Congress has won the Lok Sabha elections 11 out of 18 times on this Jat dominated parliamentary seat. Bhupinder Singh Hooda has represented the Rohtak parliamentary seat four times, his father Ranbir Singh Hooda twice and son Deepender Hooda on three occasions.
2019 was a major upset for Hooda
The 2019 general polls saw a major upset when BJP’s Arvind Sharma, a surgeon by profession, defeated Deepender by a slender margin of 7,503 votes. Hooda lost the 2019 election despite taking lead in five of the nine assembly segments. The Congress candidate lost from Kalanaur, Kosli, Rohtak and Bahadurgarh assembly segments. Hooda’s biggest loss came from Ahir dominated Kosli where he lost by about 75,000 votes thus offsetting his gains in the segments he led including his family’s pocket borough, Garhi Sampla Kiloi where he had led by 45,000 votes.
For the 2024 contest, both Hooda and Sharma are locked in a head-to-head contest.
The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) did not field a candidate for Rohtak while Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) has given ticket to its youth wing state chief Ravinder Sangwan.
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate Rajesh Bairagi withdrew his nomination and extended support to Congress candidate Deepender.
Political capital of Haryana
Rohtak, known as the political capital of Haryana, is dominated by Jats, covering the entire districts of Rohtak, Jhajjar districts and Rewari’s Kosli assembly segment. From 1991 parliamentary polls to 2019, Hooda family has won seven out of nine polls from the Rohtak parliamentary seat.
Bhupinder Singh Hooda had defeated veteran politician and former deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal in three consecutive polls in 1991, 1996, 1998 from Rohtak seat and lost to INLD’s political greenhorn Captain Inder Singh in 1999 Lok Sabha polls by a margin of 1.44 lakh votes due to Kargil War impact.
In the 2004 Lok Sabha polls, Hooda bounced back and defeated BJP’s Captain Abhimanyu with a margin of 1.50 lakh votes. A year later, he resigned from this seat after the Congress party made him Haryana chief minister and in the bypoll, his son Deepender, 27, plunged into politics and became youngest MP of the 14th Lok Sabha. He won the next two general polls from here in 2009 and 2014. Deepender’s grandfather Ranbir Singh had won from the Rohtak seat in Lok Sabha in 1952 and 1957.
Rohtak parliamentary seats cover nine assembly segments -Meham, Garhi -Sampla-Kiloi, Rohtak, Kalanaur(SC), Bahadurgarh, Badli, Jhajjar (SC), Beri and Kosli in Rewari. There are 6.60 lakh Jat voters in the Rohtak parliamentary seat, Brahmin (1.55 lakh), Punjabi (1.35 lakh), 3.05 lakh Scheduled Caste voters. The Other Backward Classes (OBC) voters are 5 lakh voters, including Ahir (1.75 lakh) and Saini (98,000) voters.
The Congress has presently seven MLAs from the assembly seats falling in the Rohtak parliamentary seat, BJP has one lawmaker representing Kosli assembly segment and Independent Balraj Kundu is an MLA from Meham, which falls in Rohtak district.
Rohtak-based political commentator Satish Tyagi said that results of the Rohtak Lok Sabha will impact state assembly polls and it’s a litmus test for Modi’s guarantee and Hooda’s popularity in the Jat belt.
“If Deepender wins, Hooda’s stature in the party will increase significantly and if he faces defeat, BJP’s polarisation strategy will be played in the state polls also. The voters of this constituency are outspoken, and they never forgive any politician for betraying their mandate. Devi Lal was the perfect example when he resigned from Rohtak and retained Sikar after becoming Deputy Prime Minister in 1989 and people showed their resentment by defeating him three times against Bhupinder Hooda, “he added.
Controversies courted by Rohtak MP
BJP MP Arvind Sharma had threatened Hoodas that “eyes will be gouged out and hands chopped off if anybody tries to target Grover”, when the former minister Manish Grover and other BJP leaders were held inside a temple at Kiloi village during a programme. He also slammed former CM Manohar Lal Khattar for not initiating a probe against his close aide Grover for irregularities in development works in Rohtak.
Congress candidate Deepender Hooda said that the BJP MP has failed to extend the metro line from Bahadurgarh, which was constructed during the Congress government.
“The BJP brought Agniveer scheme, which destroyed the future of Haryana youths and the BJP MP remained mum over this issue. He did not utter words when farmers and wrestlers were sitting on dharna, and I was the only MP from Haryana who raised public issues. Our victory will lay the foundation stone for the Congress government in Haryana,” he added.
BJP MP Arvind Sharma said that farmers’ income has increased during the BJP regime.
“The Union government sanctioned ₹80 crore for renovation of Rohtak, Kosli and Bahadurgarh railway stations and ₹558 crore were sanctioned in Rohtak and Jhajjar to resolve waterlogging issues. The Hooda family’s dream to become CM will never be fulfilled. After my win, the Hooda family will be wiped out from Haryana politics,” he said.