BJP reviews Lok Sabha, Karnal bypoll outcome; focus on upcoming Assembly elections

Parveen Arora

Karnal, June 16

Even as BJP candidate and former CM Manohar Lal Khattar has won the Karnal Lok Sabha seat and CM Nayab Singh Saini the Karnal Assembly by-election seat, BJP senior leaders on Sunday reviewed the performance of both elections. The fall in the victory margin on both seats was a cause for concern for the party leadership, which was discussed at length at the meeting. The party leadership tried to find out the reasons behind the fall in the margin such as opposition by sarpanches, farmer agitations and others. They also discussed the rumours spread by the Congress about the BJP changing the Indian Constitution if it crossed 400 seats.

BJP Lok Sabha cluster in-charge and Rajya Sabha MP Krishan Lal Panwar chaired the meeting, while Karnal Lok Sabha elections convener and Gharaunda MLA Harvinder Kalyan, former MP Sanjay Bhatia, district president Yogendra Rana, Indri MLA Ram Kumar Kashyap, former MLA Ramesh Kashyap, former Mayor Renu Bala Gupta, Panipat district president Dushyant Bhatt and other senior leaders were present at the review meeting.

“At the meeting, we discussed the results of the recently held Lok Sabha elections and the strategy for the upcoming Assembly elections,” said Kalyan.

Panwar said there was need to ensure that no shortcomings remained in the upcoming Assembly elections. “We have performed well in these elections and we should continue with the same spirit in the Assembly elections. We will win all nine Assembly seats of the Karnal Lok Sabha Constituency,” said Panwar.

Brij Gupta, a senior BJP leader, said there were some concerns such as opposition of sarpanches, resentment among farmers, problems of arhtiyas related to their commission, fear among SC voters about the abolishing of reservation, which was spread by the Congress were some of the reasons which reduced the vote share. But in the coming days, the party will reach out to every section of society to overcome these concerns.

Panwar, along with other senior leaders, expressed gratitude towards the party workers and appreciated their cooperation and dedication. They thanked the voters for their participation in the Lok Sabha elections.

The BJP has witnessed a dip in its victory margin on both seats. For the Karnal Lok Sabha seat, it recorded a fall of 15.25 per cent compared to the 2019 elections. Khattar gained 54.83 per cent of the votes, while in 2019, the BJP candidate Sanjay Bhatia got 70.06 per cent of the votes. Bhatia had received 911,594 votes, achieving the second-highest margin in the country. The BJP replaced Bhatia with Khattar in 2024 for the Karnal seat, who secured victory over Congress candidate Divyanshu Budhiraja by a margin of 232,577 votes. Khattar got a total of 739,285 votes, including 2,003 postal votes, while Budhiraja received 506,708 votes, with 2,271 postal votes. Khattar won all nine Assembly segments and managed to secure a commanding victory against the Congress.

Similarly, Nayab Singh Saini won the Karnal Assembly seat by a margin of 41,540 votes. He got 95,004 votes, while his nearest rival, Congress candidate Trilochan Singh, received 53,464 votes. Previously, the BJP candidate for the Karnal Assembly seat in 2019, Khattar, won by a margin of 45,188 votes. He obtained 79,906 votes and defeated Congress candidate Trilochan Singh, who received 34,718 votes.