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Lok Sabha election 2019: It’s a do-or-die phase for many in Haryana in sixth phase
The Bharatiya Janata Party had won seven of Haryana’s ten parliamentary constituencies in 2014 riding on the Modi wave. From among the remaining three seats, two went to the INLD and one to Congress.
The sixth phase of the Lok Sabha election on May 12 is set to be crucial for many political bigwigs from all the four major parties – the ruling BJP, Congress, Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) – in Haryana.
The Bharatiya Janata Party had won seven of Haryana’s ten parliamentary constituencies in 2014 riding on the Modi wave, which does not seem to be as much the case this time around. From among the remaining three seats, two went to the INLD and one to Congress.
While the BJP has high stakes in the ensuing elections, it is also a battle of prestige for the Congress, once the main opposition party INLD and its splinter outfit JJP. The JJP, which has taken a plunge into the elections, is contesting on seven seats and its ally Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on three.
Read: Full coverage of Lok Sabha elections 2019
Political experts see the ensuing poll as significant and say it would endorse or reject the government or Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ideology and working.
“People are by now clear about the functioning and ideology of Modi and the government at the Centre as well as in Haryana. The poll results would show the future of polity the people would have,” Rajendra Sharma, the head of the department of political science at Rohtak’s Maharshi Dayanand University, said.
Another expert, who did not want to be named, said the results would also show whether the Congress has been able to revive itself in the state.
Read: Jat and Muslims dominate Haryana’s Bhiwani-Mahendragarh seat
The BJP has fielded five of their seven sitting MPs, two of who are Union ministers Rao Inderjit Singh (Gurgaon) and Krishan Pal Gurjar (Faridabad). While its Kurukshetra MP Rajkumar Saini turned a rebel and is fighting the polls in alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), its Karnal MP Ashwini Chopra has declined to fight on health grounds.
In Sonepat constituency, the Congress’ two-time chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is contesting from his citadel and his son Deepender Singh Hooda, who is three-time MP, from Rohtak. Four-time MP Avtar Bhadana, who had joined the BJP after his defeat in 2014 in Faridabad, is back with Congress and contesting from the same seat.
In Sirsa, the Congress’ state unit president and former MP Ashok Tanwar is facing a first-timer Sunita Duggal, a former IRS officer.
In Hisar, it’s over to the GenNext — BJP’s Brijendra Singh, Congress leader Bhavya Bishnoi and Dushyant Chautala of JJP — to carry forward the legacy of their political families. Dushyant, the great-grandson of Devi Lal, a former deputy prime minister; Brijendra Singh, the son of Union minister Birender Singh and great-grandson of farmer leader Chhotu Ram, and Bhavya Bishnoi are locked in a keen contest.
Read: Rohtak is a Hooda stronghold
In Karnal, though the candidates of all parties are striving to make a mark, there seems to be a straight fight between the BJP’s first-timer Sanjay Bhatia and former speaker Kuldeep Sharma of the Congress. Bhatia is seeking votes on the issue of national security and honesty of chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Sharma has talked about his father late Chiranji Lal Sharma, who had represented this seat for four terms.
A win for any of these leaders would heighten their stature in the state politics and a defeat will decimate them with far-reaching damage given the acute factionalism within the Congress.
The poll poses a litmus test for the INLD as well. It had won two seats – Hisar and Sirsa – in 2014. While its Hisar MP Dushyant Chautala has quit the INLD and heads the JJP following a vertical split in the party, its Sirsa MP Charanjeet Singh Rori would be shared by the breakaway faction this time. Post-split, two of INLD MLAs have joined the BJP and four others are siding with the JJP. The poll result would check or jack-up such an exodus.
Among the JJP candidates are both the sons of Ajay Chautala, former MP and elder son of INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala. While Dushyant Chautala is facing Congress’ Bhavya Bishnoi and the BJP’s Brijendra Singh, his younger brother Digvijay is contesting against senior Hooda. Ajay Chautala is in jail for ten years along with his father in the junior basic teacher recruitment case since 2013.
