Former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala’s promise to his supporters that he will take oath from Tihar jail will remain a promise for now.
The principal opposition party in Haryana, the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), suffered a blow to its strength in the Assembly as well its vote share on Sunday, losing the third consecutive election in a row.
The party, which had 31 MLAs in the Assembly, is now down to 19, while its vote share has declined to a little over 24 per cent, worse than the nearly 27 per cent votes it polled when it got just nine seats in 2005 and was pushed out of power.
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INLD president Ashok Arora lost from Thanesar and stepped down owning moral responsibility for the party’s losses. Mr. Chautala’s grandson and Hisar MP Dushyant Chautala, who had contested from Uchana Kalan (won by Mr. Chautala in the last Assembly elections) against Congress-defector-turned BJP leader Birender Singh’s wife Prem Lata, lost as well. Birender Singh is a Jat leader and the grandson of Sir Chhottu Ram.
The Chautalas fight the elections in the name of former deputy prime minister Devi Lal’s legacy. The Uchana Kalan election was seen as a contest for supremacy over Jat votes.
Mr. Chautala and his elder son Ajay Singh are in jail, facing a 10-year sentence in a teachers’ recruitment scam case. His younger son Abhay Singh won from Ellenabad and his daughter-in-law Naina Singh managed to secure the Dabwali seat.
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The INLD won all five seats in Sirsa, also an indicator that the Chautalas’ influence is now confined to pockets. The party failed to win any seats in Rohtak, Sonepat and Jhajjar.