Bureaucrat-turned-politician giving jitters to Bishnois in Adampur

A cracker of a contest is on the anvil in Adampur Assembly segment of Hisar district between sitting BJP MLA Bhavya Bishnoi and bureaucrat-turned-politician Chander Prakash.

Adampur Assembly segment has been a fiefdom of the Bishnoi family since 1968. A member of the Bishnoi family has won all 16 electoral contests at this seat till 2022 byelection. Among the winners included Bhajan Lal (nine times), his son Kuldeep Bishnoi (four times) and his wife Jasma Devi, daughter-in-law Renuka Bishnoi and grandson Bhavya Bishnoi once each.

However, the Congress has fielded retired IAS officer Chander Prakash, who is nephew of former Rajya Sabha MP and Bishnoi family loyalist Ramji Lal this time. Chander Prakash belongs to the OBC community and it has made this Assembly election an interesting one.

Political experts said it was a coincidence that a member of the Bhajan Lal’s family has been up against a bureaucrat for the second time in politics. Bhajan Lal encountered his first political defeat in a contest with the IAS officer in 1999 in the Lok Sabha election from Karnal. Bhajan Lal was a Congress candidate while retired IAS ID Swami opposed him as the BJP candidate. Swami won the election by 1,47,854 votes. This was the first-ever electoral defeat for Bhajan Lal.

The political fort of Adampur had also shown signs of crumbling in the Lok Sabha polls in 2019 and 2024. Bhavya Bishnoi, who was the Congress candidate in 2019 from Hisar Lok Sabha segment, had trailed from his own Adampur segment by about 24,000 votes which also resulted in his defeat in the Lok Sabha poll. Similarly, BJP candidate Ranjit Singh had also trailed by about 12,000 votes even though Kuldeep Bishnoi (who joined the BJP in 2022) campaigned for him in 2024 Lok Sabha polls. In the 2022 bypoll though, Bhavya won by 16,000 votes.

Dharam Singh, a resident of Kabrel village of the district, said it would be a close match between the two main contenders this time. The chemistry of caste by the Congress, which fielded an OBC candidate, has given a scare to the Bhajan Lal family for the first time. “If the Congress candidate is able to make a dent in the OBC vote and has the backing of electorate from the Jat community, it could be anybody’s election,” he summed up adding that people in Adampur Assembly constituency were not vocal this time which has further added suspense to the prediction of the outcome.

Victories for Bhajan Lal family

Bhajan Lal: 1968, 1972, 1982, 1991, 1996, 2000, 2005 (Congress), 1977 (Janta Party), 2008 (Haryana Janhit Congress-byelection).

Jasma Devi (wife): 1987 (Congress)

Kuldeep Bishnoi (son): 1998 byelection, 2019 (Congress), 2009, 2014 (HJC)

Renuka Bishnoi (daughter-in-law): 2010 in byelection (HJC)

Bhavya Bishnoi (grandson): 2022 byelection (BJP)