Lok Sabha election 2024: Chautala clan bites dust in Haryana

Chandigarh, June 4

In a setback to the influential Chautala family of Haryana, several of its members who had entered the poll fray are set to face defeats.

Ranjit Chautala, Naina Chautala, Sunaina Chautala and Abhay Singh Chautala had contested the polls.

From Kurukshetra, BJP’s Naveen Jindal was leading with a comfortable margin against AAP’s Sushil Gupta while INLD’s Abhay Chautala was trailing a distant third.

Abhay Chautala is also the lone MLA of his party Indian National Lok Dal, which is headed by former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala.

Similarly, Ajay Singh Chautala and Dushyant Chautala had fielded their candidates on all 10 LS seats, but they too are set to receive a drubbing going by the latest trends of the Election Commission.

Ajay Chautala and Dushyant Chautala formed the Jannayak Janta Party in December 2018 after a split in the INLD earlier that year following a feud in the Chautala family.

Haryana’s Power Minister Ranjit Singh Chautala, an Independent MLA, quit his assembly membership to join the BJP ahead of the LS polls.

With the entry of Ranjit Chautala, son of former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal, the stage was set for a riveting electoral battle where two other members of the Chautala family, split along political lines, had also locked horns.

JJP MLA Naina Chautala, INLD candidate Sunaina Chautala—the two ‘bahus’ or daughters-in-law of the Chautala clan—and BJP’s Ranjit Chautala were pitted against each other.

Ranjit Chautala is the brother of the fathers-in-law of Sunaina Chautala and Naina Chautala—a relationship sometimes referred to as ‘chacha sasur’.

In Hisar, Ranjit Chautala was trailing while Naina Chautala and Sunaina Chautala were far behind their rivals and set to lose their security deposits.

Naina Chautala (57) is the wife of JJP chief Ajay Singh Chautala and mother of former Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala.

INLD Women Wing general secretary Sunaina Chautala (47) is the wife of party leader Abhay Singh Chautala’s cousin Ravi Chautala. Ravi Chautala is the son of INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala’s younger brother late Partap Singh Chautala.

The JJP, which had fielded candidates on all seats, also failed to make an impact.

The BJP and the JJP had formed an alliance in Haryana after the 2019 Assembly polls. It ended in March 2024 as Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar resigned to make way for a new BJP government led by Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini.