Chandigarh, May 25
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda turned the tide on his rivals, both outside and within his party, when the Congress today won two of the three assembly constituencies, where byelections were held on May 22.
The six-month-old Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) opened its account in the Vidhan Sabha with former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal retaining his traditional Adampur seat. With the BJP badly mauled in the byelections, the HJC has announced the arrival of a third alternative to the people of Haryana with its maiden victory and the party ending up as number two in Indri.
Om Prakash Chautala’s INLD, which had suffered a humiliating defeat in the last assembly elections, drew a blank in the byelections also. Rather it had to suffer added humiliation when its candidates finished third, behind the Congress and the HJC in Indri and Adampur. Its only consolation is that its candidate was at the number two slot in Gohana.
The byelections in the Adampur, Indri and Gohana constituencies were held after Bhajan Lal, Rakesh Kamboj and Dharampal Malik were disqualified from the membership of the Vidhan Sabha for defecting to the HJC.
Septuagenarian Bhajan Lal trounced his nearest Congress rival Ranjit Singh, a son of former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal, by a margin of over 26,188 votes. The Congress has the satisfaction of not only being second in a constituency where only Bhajan Lal matters, but also of having reduced the winning margin of the former Chief Minister from 71,081 votes
in 2005 to 26,188 votes.
The HJC had fielded Kamboj and Malik from Indri and Gohana, respectively, But they could not retain their seats.
Congress candidate Bhim Sen Mehta defeated Kamboj by a margin of 5,865 votes. INLD candidate Ashok Kashyap finished third, securing 27,900 votes.
Kamboj, contesting on the Congress ticket in 2005, had defeated Mehta, who had contested as an Independent, by a margin of 19,578 votes.
The Congress bagged the Gohana seat in Sonepat district with its candidate Jagbir Singh Malik humbling his nearest INLD rival K.C. Bangar, former chairman of the Haryana Public Service Commission, by 22,162 votes. This is the highest victory margin for any candidate in Gohana ever since the inception of Haryana.
Jagbir Malik secured 44,540 votes against Bangar’s 22,378. HJC’s Malik, who had won the seat for the Congress in the last elections, finished fifth managing only 5,147 votes. Not only the BJP, even an Independent, Umesh Sharma, were ahead of him.
Bhajan Lal polled 56,841 votes against Ranjit Singh’s 30,653 and INLD’s veteran leader Sampat Singh’s 20,136. BJP candidate Raghavanand and 37 other candidates lost their security deposits. Sampat barely managed to save his security. With the Congress pocketing Indri and Gohana seats, its tally in the House is now 66. The INLD’s hopes of winning at least one seat to get the status of the leader of opposition for its president Om Prakash Chautala were not fulfilled and its tally remains at nine. The BJP has two MLAs and the BSP and the NCP one each. Ten MLAs are Independent.
Detailed results
Indri
Bhim Sen Mehta, Congress, 38,833; Rakesh Kumar Kamboj, HJC(BL), 32,968; Ashok Kumar, INLD, 31,297; Maratha Virender Verma, Ekta Shakti, 5,593; Ram Kumar Arya, BJP, 2,192; Zila Singh, CPI, 975.
Gohana
Jagbir Singh Malik, Congress, 44,540; Dr Krishan Chander Bangar, INLD, 22,378; Umesh, Independent, 6,291; Pardeep Singh Sangwan, BJP, 5,446; Dharam Pal Singh Malik, HJC(BL), 5,147.
Adampur
Bhajan Lal, HJC(BL), 56,841; Ranjit Singh, Congress, 30,653; Prof. Sampat Singh, INLD, 20,136; Swami Raghvanand, BJP 1,860, Comrade Parbhat Singh, CPI (M),1,209.
