News Analysis India

Tag: Haryana Bypolls

  • Haryana bypolls: INLD’s Abhay Chautala wins Ellenabad Assembly seat by over 6,700 votes

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: INLD leader Abhay Singh Chautala defeated BJP’s Gobind Kanda with a margin of over 6,700 votes in Haryana’s Ellenabad Assembly bypolls on Tuesday.

    Congress candidate Pawan Beniwal finished third in the elections, the voting for which took place on October 30.

    The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) candidate secured nearly 66,000 votes, officials said.

    The bypoll was necessitated after Chautala in January resigned as the MLA from the seat in protest against the Centre’s contentious farm laws.

    While there were 19 candidates in the fray, most of them Independents, the main contest eventually turned out to be between Chautala and Kanda.

    Gobind Kanda, the brother of Haryana Lokhit Party chief and MLA Gopal Kanda, joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) last month.

    Gopal Kanda, the MLA from Sirsa, has extended support to the BJP-JJP government in Haryana.

    Beniwal, who had unsuccessfully contested the previous Assembly polls against Chautala, recently switched over from the BJP to the Congress.

  • Ellenabad bypoll: INLD leader Abhay Chautala’s lead thins over BJP’s Gobind Kanda

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: INLD secretary general Abhay Singh Chautala’s lead thinned over his nearest rival Gobind Kanda of the BJP in the Ellenabad assembly constituency in Haryana, according to latest trends for bypolls.

    Counting of votes for the October 30 bypoll to the seat is in progress.

    While Chautala maintained a consistent lead during the first seven rounds of counting, the margin dropped from 8,180 votes to 2,985 in the subsequent rounds.

    There are 16 rounds of counting of votes.

    The bypoll was necessitated after Chautala in January resigned as the MLA from the seat in protest against three central farm laws and to stand in solidarity with the farmers who are protesting against these legislations since the past one year.

    The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) candidate is leading over Gobind Kanda by a margin of 2,985 votes, according to trends available at 1 pm.

    While BJP-JJP combine candidate Gobind Kanda is giving a fight to Chautala, opposition Congress’ candidate Pawan Beniwal is trailing at third spot.

    Out of the votes counted so far, Chautala has secured 40,633, Kanda 37,648 and Beniwal has got 14,951 votes.

    While there are 19 candidates in the fray, most of whom are Independents, the main contest is between Chautala, Beniwal and JJP-backed BJP candidate Gobind Kanda.

    Over 81 per cent of polling was recorded for the bypoll.

    Gobind Kanda, the brother of Haryana Lokhit Party chief and legislator Gopal Kanda, joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) last month.

    Gopal Kanda, the MLA from Sirsa, has extended support to the BJP-JJP government.

    Beniwal, who had unsuccessfully contested the previous assembly polls against Chautala, recently switched over from the BJP to the Congress.

    Abhay Chautala, the younger son of INLD president and former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala, had won the Rori assembly bypoll in Sirsa district in 2000.

    Ellenabad, a predominantly rural constituency, has been a traditional stronghold for the Chautala clan.

    Abhay Chautala won the 2010 bypoll from Ellenabad, when Om Prakash Chautala vacated the seat to retain the Uchana seat in Jind district — the other constituency from which he had contested the election in 2009 and won.

    Abhay Chautala retained the Ellenabad seat in 2014 too.

    He again won from Ellenabad in the 2019 assembly polls, when he was the lone INLD MLA to enter the House.

    The win in the bypoll was crucial for the INLD otherwise the party would have had no MLA to represent in the state assembly.

  • Haryana bypoll: Farmers will make BJP pay heavy price, says Abhay Chautala

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: Farmers will make the BJP pay a heavy price for bringing the contentious farm laws in the bypolls to the Ellenabad Assembly segment, said senior Indian National Lok Dal leader Abhay Singh Chautala on Tuesday.

    Chautala, who was his party’s lone representative in the 90-member Haryana Assembly, had in January resigned as an MLA over the three central farm laws in solidarity with protesting farmers.

    He represented Ellenabad, a rural constituency.

    “Farmers will make them pay a heavy price for bringing the black farm laws. The BJP-JJP combine will lose their security deposit,” said Chautala.

    “People will not even allow their leaders (BJP-JJP) to enter the constituency,” he said.

    Chautala claimed that people of Ellenabad will also reject the Congress, “which only sheds crocodile tears in the name of farmers”.

    On who will be INLD’s candidate for the bypolls, Chautala said, “This will be decided by the people of Ellenabad. We will hold a meeting on October 3 and ask them. Whosoever they decide will be the party’s candidate.”

    The BJP had forged a post-poll alliance with the JJP in 2019 after it fell short of the majority mark in the Assembly polls.

    It remains to be seen which of the two allies will put up a candidate for the bypoll.

    Pawan Beniwal, who earlier this month switched over to the Congress, was the BJP’s candidate from the Ellenabad constituency in the last Assembly polls.

    Beniwal had contested unsuccessfully against Abhay Chautala then.

    Bypolls to three Lok Sabha seats and 30 assembly constituencies spread across 14 states will be held on October 30, the Election Commission announced on Tuesday.

    The counting of votes will take place on November 2.