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Pehowa rejects Gurnam Singh Charuni as farmer leader loses deposit
Gurnam Singh Charuni, who had floated Sanyukt Sangharsh Party in 2021, contested from Sikh-dominated Pehowa seat of Kurukshetra and polled just 1,170 votes, finishing fifth and losing his security deposit.
Gurnam Singh Charuni, a prominent face of the 2020-21 farmers’ protest from Haryana, faced a humiliating defeat in the 2024 Haryana assembly elections, the results for which were announced on Wednesday.
Charuni, who had floated Sanyukt Sangharsh Party in 2021, contested from Sikh-dominated Pehowa seat of Kurukshetra and polled just 1,170 votes, finishing fifth and losing his security deposit.
The seat went to Congress candidate Mandeep Chatha, who polled 64,548 votes, while BJP’s Jai Bhagwan Sharma came second with 57,995 votes who replaced Kanwaljeet Singh Ajrana after the latter backed out from contesting amid protests. A commission agent-cum-agriculturist, he had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 assembly elections from Ladwa seat of the district as an independent candidate.
Charuni, the national president of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) (Charuni) and a firebrand farmer leader in the state, emerged as one of the leading faces of the farmers’ protests in 2020-21 following which he launched his party in December 2021.
The party had tested waters in the Punjab assembly elections as part of Charuni’s “Mission Punjab” but performed badly.
In March this year, he had announced that his political outfit would participate in the Lok Sabha elections, but later decided to extend support to Indian National Lok Dal leader Abhay Chautala, who contested from Kurukshetra Lok Sabha constituency.
Earlier, his wife, Balwinder Kaur, also unsuccessfully contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Kurukshetra on an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ticket.
His primary area of influence is the paddy bowl of Haryana, comprising the northern districts of Ambala, Kurukshetra, Yamunanagar, Kaithal and Karnal.
Political analysts believe that even though Charuni lost, the ongoing farmer’s protest at Shambhu (Haryana-Punjab border) must have had an impact on the results as ruling BJP’s Aseem Goel lost from Ambala City to Congress and the victory margin of Ambala Cantt candidate Anil Vij also reduced drastically from 20,165 votes in 2019 to 7,277 this time.
The Congress retained two other seats in Ambala -- Mulana and Naraingarh.
Similarly, in Kurukshetra, the BJP lost Pehowa (earlier represented by Sandeep Singh) and Thanesar (Subhash Sudha). Both seats went to the Congress. However, chief minister Nayab Saini defeated Congress’ Mewa Singh on Ladwa seat.
A political analyst said, “The BJP’s victory and Charuni’s defeat raise questions on whether the farmers’ angst is waning. It clearly had little electoral repercussion, which puts a question mark on their political relevance in the state.”
Scores of farmers have been camping at Shambhu in the territory of Punjab under the banner of Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) since February this year, when they were stopped by the Haryana government from moving towards New Delhi.
The protesters keenly watched the results in their tractor-trailers, anticipating a Congress win as predicted by the exit polls. The party had promised to open the border and ensure legal guarantee to minimum support price, in their poll manifesto.
On the results, Tejveer Singh, spokesperson of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Shaheed Bhagat Singh) that is part of the agitation, said that whatever maybe the outcome of elections, their protest for their demands will continue. “Our aim is to raise the issues and make the public aware about the rights. We must rise above religion and caste to fight for jal-jangal-jameen (water, forest and land),” he said.
