Congress candidate Indu Raj defeated BJP’s Yogeshwar Dutt, an Olympic medalist, with a margin of over 10,000 votes in the Baroda bypoll to retain the party’s Assembly seat on Tuesday.
Mr. Raj secured 49% of nearly 1,23,000 votes polled to trounce Mr. Dutt by a margin of 10,566 votes in a direct contest between the two national parties. Mr. Raj polled 60,636 votes against Mr. Dutt, who managed to get only 50,070. Loktanter Suraksha Party supremo Rajkumar Saini stood the distant third with 5,611 votes. Of the 14 candidates in the fray, ten secured votes less than the NOTA tally of 469.
Former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, in a press conference after the result, said it was a victory for the farmers, labourers, employees and all the 36 communities of Haryana. He added the result proved that people were disillusioned with the BJP-JJP coalition.
Battle of prestige
Seen as a battle of prestige for the Hoodas, the comfortable win for the Congress candidate has re-asserted their firm grip over their turf, the Sonipat-Rohtak-Jhajjar belt. More so, because the Hoodas almost single-handedly carried out the campaign for the election pitted against the government.
BJP State president O.P. Dhankar, in a tweet, said the Baroda Assembly seat was with the Congress and the coalition could not convert an “opportunity” into an “achievement”. Accepting the mandate, Mr. Dhankar said he regretted that party’s candidate, a renowned wrestler, could not reach the State Assembly.
Swing factor
Though the BJP-JJP coalition announced development projects worth around ₹165 crore for the Assembly and also hinted at possible ministerial berth for their candidate, in case of a win, the saffron party’s rebel and Jat leader Kapoor Narwal withdrawing his nomination as an Independent to support the Hoodas tilted the scales in favour of the Congress. The Congress, in its campaign, had attacked the coalition for its alleged failure on all fronts during the six-year rule and invoked “Baroda’s pride”.
Though the tally for the parties in the State Assembly remains intact with the Congress’ win, political analysts see it as a moral victory for the Hoodas. The resentment among the farmers over the three farm legislations also harmed the coalition candidate’s prospects in a predominantly rural constituency. Besides, the caste composition, with over 50% Jat electorate, also went against the BJP-JJP candidate Mr. Dutt, who lost to Congress from Baroda for the second time in a row within a year.
