Chandigarh, October 22
This assembly election, all eyes were on Uchana Kalan where Congress candidate Birender Singh was pitted in a fierce battle with INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala. In the end, Chautala stole the thunder in a nail-biting finish where Birender Singh lost merely by 621 votes.

Congressman Karan Singh Dalal, who shot into the limelight for his tirade against the Chautalas when the former was in power, too, lost his seat to INLD’s Subhash Choudhary by 6,672 votes. He fell prey not only to delimitation, which resulted in addition of Gujjar voters to his constituency, but also for the fact that there was no love lost between him and local MP Avtar Singh Badhana, who had won the recent Lok Sabha elections despite Dalal’s open opposition.

In fact, all leaders of the INLD who had switched over to the Congress during or after the Lok Sabha poll barring Sampat Singh, lost the election. These include Kailasho Saini from Ladwa and Sushil Indora from Kalanwali.

Interestingly, Bansi Lal’s son Ranbir Singh Mahendra (Congress candidate from Badhra) and son-in-law Somvir lost from Loharu by 709 and 623 votes, respectively, sealing their fate for five years. They were at daggers drawn with Bansi Lal’s daughter-in-law Kiran Choudhry.

In Nalwa, wife of former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal and Haryana Janhit Congress candidate Jasma Devi started out as the favourite, but Congress candidate Sampat Singh, known for his clean image, stole the thunder to emerge victorious, defeating her by over 10,000 votes in the total tally.Among the prominent winners were Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who won by a margin of 72,100 votes from Garhi Sampla-Kiloi, while his detractor and firebrand minister Kiran Choudhry won by 46,107 votes from Tosham. 

While this win is not only important in terms of her popularity in the area but also because she has emerged as the real inheritor of Bansi Lal’s legacy yet again, the second time after the recent Lok Sabha elections where her daughter Shruti was elected, with Ranbir Mahendra and Somvir losing the elections.

In Ambala city, the Shiromani Akali Dal’s entire mite for its party candidate proved insufficient to cloud Congress candidate Venod Sharma’s popularity who won by 35,550 votes. Power Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala, too, romped home from Kaithal with a margin of 22,502 votes, riding high on the development wave.

Their win, like that of Hooda and Choudhry, was a foregone conclusion. In Rewari, PWD minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav, too, created a record of sorts, winning from his seat for the sixth time in a row, winning by over 13,000 votes.

Chandigarh, October 22
If the just-concluded elections to the 12th Vidhan Sabha of Haryana had a series of reverses for all major political parties, including the ruling Congress, it is the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) that has every reason to be cheerful at the outcome of the battle of the ballot.

The SAD not only makes a triumphant entry into the Haryana Vidhan Sabha, the first to any legislature outside Punjab, but it also managed a dent in the Dera Sacha Sauda citadel, besides silencing the Congress-backed group on the demand for a separate Sikh gurdwaras management committee.

Sirsa is the headquarters of Dera Sacha Sauda. At Kalanwali, from where SAD nominee Charanjit Singh Rori was declared winner by an impressive margin of more than 12,000 votes, the ad hoc committee of the Haryana Sikh Gurdwaras Management Committee had put up its candidate in an endeavour to prove its popularity among Haryana Sikhs.

Though the SAD put up two candidates - Charanjeet Kaur from Ambala City and Charanjit Singh Rori from Kalanwali - its 50 per cent success has had the SAD leadership jubilant.The Dal, by overlooking its traditional alliance partner, the BJP, had gone into the elections with the INLD as its partner.

The solitary win at Kalanwali conveys a strong message to political adversaries of the SAD, including those demanding a separate Sikh gurdwara management committee in Haryana. The party has created history by winning a Vidhan Sabha seat for the first time after Independence on its own symbol outside Punjab.

The experiment of venturing outside the state was initiated during Delhi Vidhan Sabha elections by Sukhbir Singh Badal to establish party’s own identity in other states having Punjabi speaking population.In a post-election communiqué, Sukhbir Singh Badal says that Sikhs in Haryana have understood the nefarious game of Congress to divide and weaken Sikhs by raising the bogey of separate SGPC. 

He said that the farmers were also fed up with anti-farm policies and indiscriminate acquisition of farmland in Haryana.The SAD President said that people of Haryana have rejected the lopsided development model of Haryana. He said that time has come that Congress party accepting the people’s verdict should gracefully say good bye to electoral politics.

Reiterating the commitment of his party to introduce whole sale price linked formula for MSP, enacting stringent Act against hoarding of essential commodities, making Haryana power surplus and ensuring balanced development of all regions of Haryana, Sukhbir Badal hoped that INLD would form the next government in Haryana.

Rohtak, October 22
The ruling Congress retained all four assembly seats of Garhi- Sampla- Kiloi, Rohtak, Meham and Kalanaur. The Chief Minister, the star campaigner for the party in these elections, proved his mettle with a win of about 72,100 votes, the highest margin of victory for a candidate in these elections.

His nearest rival Satish Kumar Nandal of the INLD managed to get only 17,749 votes. The BSP candidate, who remained at the third spot, got only 2,135 votes. Eight of the total 11 candidates could not even reach the figure of 1,000 in the constituency.

Kalanaur, a reserved constituency, which had been represented by the late Kartar Devi, a minister in the outgoing cabinet, proved a boon for the Congress as its nominee Shakuntala Khatak, a new entrant into politics, outclassed her nearest rival Naga Ram of the INLD by a margin of 27,860 votes.

Khatak was a staff nurse in the PGIMS here before her selection as candidate. Rohtak city, which had been a seat of prestige for the CM, played pied piper. Its candidate Bharat Bhushan Batra, an advocate and an old friend of the CM, was seen as a weak candidate. There were rumours that he could lose to Munish Grover of the BJP, an old-timer, but the results have proved all calculations wrong and established that the Hooda factor led to the victory of Batra with a margin of 19,595 votes.

A majority of the remaining candidates lost their deposit from here. In Meham, Anand Singh Dangi managed to pull off a victory with a slender margin of 6,966 votes over his nearest rival Shamsher Singh Kharkara, an Independent, owing to the Hooda factor, claimed a party worker. 

Chandigarh, October 22
Of the 67 women contestants in fray for 90 seats of the 12th Vidhan Sabha, only nine could make it , while 12 finished runners-up. Seven of the nine women winners are from the Congress. The other two are from the INLD and the BJP. Two of the oldest women members of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha, Prasani Devi (Panipat Rural) and Shakuntala Bhagwaria (Bawal), also faced defeat.

Prasani Devi finished third behind Bimla Kadian of the INLD while Om Parkash Jain, an Independent, was the winner.

Chief ministerial candidate Kiran Choudhary of the Congress recorded the biggest win from amongt the women candidates, defeating her nearest rival, Colonel Gajraj Singh, by more than 46,000 votes, the second highest after Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s runaway win of over 72,000 votes in Garhi Sampla-Kiloi.

The first three constituencies, all in Ambala district, had a woman contestant among the top two. Anita Yadav was, however, the only one to succeed, recording a narrow win of 973 votes over another woman contestant, Santosh Yadav of the BJP.

In Ambala city, Congress campaign committee chairman Venod Sharma was victorious, defeating SAD’s Charanjit Kaur by more than 35000 votes.

In Ballabgarh, there were some unruly scenes after Opposition candidates alleged tampering of EVMs and boycotted counting. Sharda Rathore of the Congress defeated Surinder Tewatia of the BJP by a huge margin of 23,844 votes.

Savitri Jindal, widow of Om Parkash Jindal, won against Gautam Sardana, an Independent, in Hisar by 14,728 votes. In yet another direct fight between two women contestants in Jhajjar, Geeta of the Congress defeated Kanta Devi of the INLD by 27,700 votes. Shakuntla (Kalanaur) and Sumita Singh (Karnal) are other successful Congress women candidates. Among the losers is Kailasho Rani of the Congress who lost to Sher Singh Bharshami in Ladwa.

Yamunanagar, October 22
The only BSP candidate, Akram Khan, who won the assembly elections, was elected from the Jagadhri assembly segment here today. Khan defeated Congress sitting MLA Subhash Chowdhary by a margin of 4,344 votes. Khan got 39,860 votes while Chowhdary was polled 35,516 votes.

Earlier, Khan had won the elections as an Independent candidate from Chhachhrauli segment in 1996 and had joined the BSP recently just before the Lok Sabha elections. Akram’s father Aslam Khan had won the elections from Chhachhrauli in 1987 and in 1991 on the Congress ticket.

After delimitation, Chhachhrauli was merged into Jagadhri so Akram Khan this time contested the elections from the Jagadhri assembly segment. BJP candidate Kanwar Pal secured the third position by securing 31,630 votes from Jagadhri.

Lack of development of this assembly segment, especially Chhachhroli area, by the Congress was the main poll agenda for the BSP.

After winning the elections, Akram Khan said: “He has contested the elections for the development of his area which was completely ignored during the Congress regime. His main emphasis will be to increase the avenue of education and development of roads of his area.”

Out of the four assembly segments, the anti-incumbency factor coupled with new candidates led to the defeat of the Congress in the three assembly segments.

The Congress won only one seat of Sadhaura while the INLD won two seats, including Yamunanagar and Radaur, and the BSP managed to secure Jagadhri.

The INLD candidate, transporter and mining king, Dilbag Singh, won the elections by a margin of 13,573 votes by defeating Congress nominee, president of the plywood industry, Devinder Chawla from the Yamunanagar assembly segment.

Dilbag was polled 46,984 votes while Chawla was got 33,411. BJP candidate Ghanshyam Dass secured the third position by getting 15,525 votes. Dr BL Saini won from the Radaur assembly segment by 4,397 votes defeating Rahul Gandhi choice’s Congress nominee Suresh Kumar.

Only Congress candidate Rajpal won elections from Sadhaura by a margin of 8,613 votes defeating INLD sitting MLA Balwant Singh.

Fatehabad, October 22
The Congress and the INLD drew one-one all in Fatehabad, while the third seat of the district went to a Congress rebel, who contested as an Independent.

Paramvir Singh of the Congress won the Tohana assembly seat of this district by defeating his nearest rival Nishan Singh of the INLD by a margin of 3,852 votes.

Roshan Lal, a Dera Sacha Sauda follower, who contested as an Independent, polled 14,816 votes, Subhash Barala of the BJP got 11,587 votes, while Sanjay Sharma of the BSP got 11,038 votes.

In Ratia, Gian Chand Odh of the INLD defeated Jarnail Singh of the Congress by a margin of 3,382 votes.

Jarnail Singh maintained a lead over his rival from the beginning of the counting till the seventh round, but Gian Chand scored well in the final rounds.

Gian Chand was the sitting MLA of the INLD in the dissolved House.

Congress rebel Pahlad Singh Gillankhera, who contested as an Independent from the Fatehabad seat, defeated Dura Ram of the Congress by a margin of 2,802 votes.

Gillankhera got 48,637 votes against 45,835 votes polled by Dura Ram.

Swatantar Bala Chaudhary of the INLD got 37,536 votes.

Sonepat, October 22
Kavita Jain of the BJP defeated sitting MLA and Congress candidate Anil Thakkar by a narrow margin of 2,657 votes. Kavita’s husband, Rajiv Jain, had contested the seat in 2000 and 2005 as an Independent and lost with a narrow margin.

This time, the BJP nominated him as its candidate,

but because of some legal hassles, his wife Kavita Jain was announced as party candidate. Devi Dass had won this seat in 1982 and 1987 on the BJP ticket. The party then had entered into an alliance with the INLD. But Kavita won the seat for the BJP without the benefit of any such alliance.

Kuldeep Sharma from Gannaur, Jaiveer Balmiki from Kharkhoda, Kavita Jain and Jai Tirth from Rai are the first -time winners.

Chandigarh, October 22
The High Court today issued notice of motion to Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and others on the appointment of a “close relative” to a coveted post in the state agricultural marketing board. This was allegedly done by inducting him on deputation and later extending the tenure by amending service rules in violation of the Article 14 and 16 of the Constitution.

The petition has been by Jind-based Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board Field Staff Welfare Association through its general secretary Krishan Lal Kakkar. The petitioner has thrown a challenge to the appointment of Jagwant Singh Rana as the chief marketing executive officer.

The petitioners have alleged he was on deputation for a year from July 2008, but the tenure was extended by another year after amending the service rules allegedly at Hooda’s behest. The Bench of the Justice MM Kumar and Justice Jaswant Singh issued notice of motion for November 5 to be served by hand to the Chief Minister, the state Agriculture Secretary and others.