Farmers Movement Archive

Ellenabad bypoll: Joint nominee of BJP-JJP to be from saffron party

The joint nominee of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) for the October 30 Ellenabad bypoll in Sirsa district of Haryana is set to be from the saffron party which is expected to announce its candidate on October 3, it has emerged.The high-powered 11-member election committee of Haryana BJP will meet in Chandigarh on October 3 to either shortlist or select the candidate for the Ellenabad bypoll. The nomination filing exercise begins on Friday and October 8 is the last date to file papers for the bypoll.“The BJP convening the meeting of its election committee on October 3 is a clear signal in itself... the candidate (for Ellenabad bypoll) will be from BJP,” Haryana BJP president Om Prakash Dhankar said, when contacted over the phone.Among leaders of the 11-member panel meeting on Sunday will be Haryana BJP affairs in-charge Vinod Tawde, chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, state BJP chief OP Dhankar, former state BJP chief Subhash Barala, former cabinet ministers Ram Bilas Sharma and Captain Abhimanyu.On Thursday, Dhankar held a meeting of Sirsa district core group of the party to seek feedback and prepare the strategy. Barala was appointed in-charge for the bypoll and Dhankar said alliance partners BJP and JJP will contest the Ellenabad bypoll jointly.The Ellenabad slugfest will be a keenly contested tussle where the challenge before the ruling BJP-JJP is how to reach out to the electorate in view of the farm agitation.The Jat-dominated assembly seat in Sirsa district had fallen vacant after Abhay Singh Chautala, the lone MLA of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) resigned in January from the assembly in protest against Centre’s three farm laws.During October 2019 Haryana assembly elections, Abhay Singh Chautala had won the seat by nearly 12,000 votes as he got 57,055 votes of 1,49,947 valid votes polled.His nearest rival in the fray BJP’s Pawan Beniwal was polled 45,133 votes and Congress’ Bharat Singh Beniwal had received 35,383 votes.But the worry of the BJP is that its nominee Pawan Beniwal had deserted the party to support the ongoing farmers’ agitation and joined the Congress recently.Another major concern of the ruling BJP-JJP alliance partners is the opposition they are facing from the restive farmers who have been stopping the ruling party leaders from holding government as well as party functions.Meanwhile, Haryana Congress leaders will also go into a huddle in Delhi on Friday to discuss bypoll-related issues. Haryana Congress affairs in-charge Vivek Bansal will chair the meeting in which Haryana Congress president Kumari Selja, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, AICC general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala and a battery of other leaders will also be present.

Hindustan Times

01-10-2021

Chandigarh