Nominations closed on Saturday for elections to 90 constituencies of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha due on October 15. The State is set to witness a multi-polar contest with all the three major parties namely the Congress, the BJP and the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) contesting on their own, sans alliances.
The Congress, which declared its list of candidates just two days before nominations closed, is banking heavily on Jat votes as the community was assiduously pampered by chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda during his 10-year rule. Not only did the UPA government gave Jats reservation in government jobs on the eve of Lok Sabha elections, the Hooda government risked the ire of other communities in the State who alleged that he has favoured Jats in jobs and other benefits. The party however faces intense infighting with Pradesh Congress president Ashok Tanwar joining the chorus of those against Mr Hooda. The latter however has managed to get the upper hand in ticket distribution, leading Mr Tanwar to even threaten to quit.
The BJP, which is pitching for a serious attempt at gaining power in Haryana, is also caught in a battle between turncoats and old party hands with both sides upset at perceived bias in ticket distribution. In some 30 seats, the new entrants are likely to face opposition from the cadre leaders who are open about their dissent. For a party that is hoping to replicate the Lok Sabha performance where it won seven of the 10 constituencies and led from 52 out of 90 Assembly constituencies, the infighting could well damage its prospects. The party is also hampered by the absence of a dynamic leader to lead the electoral battle. Its State level leaders of some consequence are snapping at each other as half a dozen of them have chief ministerial aspirations. Birender Singh, a former Rajya Sabha MP of the Congress who joined the BJP a couple of months ago, has little acceptability within the BJP cadres.
The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), led by jailed Om Prakash Chautala, which is fielding three family members, is wracked by three major problems. On Thursday, when Mr Chautala attended a mega rally in Jind while he was on bail on medical grounds, he earned the ire of the court that asked him to surrender. But more seriously, in his absence, there is a tug of war for control between his younger son Abhay Chautala, legislator from Ellenabad, and grandson Dushyant Chautala, presently Hissar lok Sabha MP. Now, the latter has been fielded from Ucchana Kalan (Om Prakash Chautala’s constituency) while his mother Naina, will contest from Dabwali, presently represented by her husband Ajay Chautala, also in jail for a teacher’s recruitment scam. Naina Chautala is the first woman from the Chautala clan to contest elections. The conviction of the father- son duo disqualifies them from contesting elections.
