Abhay Singh Chautala, senior Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leader, was defeated in the Ellenabad assembly constituency, as the counting of votes for Haryana’s October 5 assembly election, was held on Tuesday.
Congress candidate Bharat Singh Beniwal defeated Chautala, who had won the seat four times since 2010 and whose grandfather, Devi Lal, served as the country's deputy prime minister. After all 14 rounds of counting, the former won 77,455 (49.14%) votes, while the latter’s tally stood at 62,594 (39.71%) votes, as per the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) data.
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In 2019, Chautala had defeated BJP's Pawan Beniwal, while Bharat Singh Beniwal had come third.
Earlier, the INLD leader had expressed confidence that he will score a comfortable win and that their coalition will come to power in the state.
"This is a small village, one, member from each family participated in our meeting. There is a wave of our coalition parties in Haryana. We will come to power" Abhay Chautala had said while campaigning in Sirsa.
{{/usCountry}}"This is a small village, one, member from each family participated in our meeting. There is a wave of our coalition parties in Haryana. We will come to power" Abhay Chautala had said while campaigning in Sirsa.
{{/usCountry}}Also read: Congress ahead in Haryana, BJP leads in Jammu and Kashmir, show early trends
He claimed that their coalition partners INLD and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) could win 20-25 seats if the election happens now. He further said that in the coming days, when sister Mayawati comes, we will garner more support in the state.
The INLD-BSP alliance also projected Chautala as their chief ministerial pick.
In the outgoing assembly, Abhay Singh Chautala was the lone member of the INLD in the 90-member Haryana Assembly while the BSP did not have any member in the House.
Also read: Vinesh Phogat takes early lead against Yogesh Bairagi in Haryana's Julana
Haryana Assembly Elections: INLD-BSP Alliance
The INLD and the BSP fought the recently held Lok Sabha polls separately in Haryana and both received a severe drubbing.
The BSP had fought nine of 10 parliamentary seats while the INLD contested seven seats, but both failed to open their account.
Abhay Chautala, who is INLD's lone MLA in Haryana, had also entered the fray from the Kurukshetra parliamentary seat but lost.
He will be up against Bharat Singh Beniwal, a season politician who has been involved in public service for several years. He was elected as an MLA in the Haryana legislative assembly from Darba Kalan seat in 2005. However, his political journey has not been without setbacks, having lost elections in 1991, 2009, and 2019
Ellenabad is one of the 90 constituencies in the Haryana Legislative Assembly and is part of the Sirsa Lok Sabha constituency. Formerly known as Kharial, the city has been represented by Abhay Singh Chautala of the Indian National Lok Dal since 2010.
The Ellenabad constituency is geographically significant as it serves as a channel between Rajasthan and Haryana, with the Punjab border also nearby.
The population of Ellenabad stood at 52,285, comprising Malviya, Rajasthani Marwari, Deshwali Haryanvi, and native Bagri people, according to the 2011 census. The city is divided into 17 wards.