Farmers Movement Archive

Haryana byelection: INLD’s Abhay Chautala retains Ellenabad seat

Indian National Lok Dal candidate Abhay Singh Chautala on Tuesday retained the INLD’s lone Ellenabad seat in the Haryana assembly by defeating his BJP rival, Gobind Kanda, by 6,739 votes. Abhay polled 65,992 votes, while Kanda got 59,253 votes and Pawan Beniwal of the Congress emerged third with 20,904 votes.This is Abhay’s fifth victory in the assembly elections and he has remained undefeated from this rural Jat-dominated seat since the 2010 byelection that was necessitated after his father OP Chautala resigned as he had won from Uchana Kalan in Jind also. This is the BJP’s second defeat in a Haryana byelection within a year. Last year, BJP candidate Yogeshwar Dutt was defeated by Indu Raj Narwala of the Congress in the Baroda byelection in Sonepat district. Farmer leaders backed Abhay The Ellenabad byelection was necessitated after Abhay resigned from the state assembly in support of farmers protesting against the three farm laws on January 27. This was the first byelection in Haryana after the farmers’ agitation reached Delhi’s borders. Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait had extended support to Abhay at a rally recently. “With the blessings of farmers, I have secured victory from here. The BJP had adopted all methods to influence them but they went in vain. Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar resign because this election was a referendum on the three farm laws,” Abhay said after he was declared winner. This assembly seat includes 35% Jat voters, a majority of whom are dependent on agriculture. Abhay said he will visit Tikri and Singhu borders to express solidarity with the protesting farmers. “If the farmers will ask me to tender my resignation again, I will do the same. The election commission has failed to take action against the ruling party leaders for violating the model code of conduct,”Chautala added.Congress nominee Pawan Beniwal lost security deposit and it seems to be a blow for party’s state chief Kumari Selja, who had inducted him into the party and fielded him in the fray ignoring senior party leader and former Darba Kalan MLA Bharat Singh Beniwal. In the last 10 days, Bharat had remained away from canvassing and had called Pawan as “weak candidate”. As per experts, internal rift was the main reason that Pawan lost his security deposit.Urban votes went to BJP: Expert A retired political science professor of Government College, Bhiwani, Anant Ram, said the results of the Ellenabad byelection are satisfactory both for the BJP and the INLD. “Before the start of the byelection, no one had expected that the BJP would give such a strong fight to the INLD. The Congress has performed poorly. The rural areas are dominated by Abhay but the urban voters have reposed faith in the BJP. So, it’s a win-win for INLD, BJP and protesting farmers. The Congress campaign revolved around state party chief Kumari Selja as the rival faction, led by former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, did not show interest,” Ram said. Overwhelmed by public support: Kanda 81.38% voter turnout was reported in Ellenabad on Saturday. In the 2019 assembly elections, the constituency recorded a polling percentage of 83.24%. BJP candidate Gobind Kanda thanked his supporters. “I’m overwhelmed with the public support. People have backed the development work initiated by the Manohar Lal Khattar government,” he said. Third bypoll victory, levels family record With this victory, Abhay has levelled the record of his father, Om Prakash Chautala, and his grandfather, the late Ch Devi Lal, who had both won three byelections in their political careers. Abhay had won the Rori byelection in 2000 and the Ellenabad byelection in 2010. Former deputy prime minister Ch Devi Lal had won the Sirsa byelection in 1959, Rori in 1974 and Meham in 1985, while OP Chautala had emerged winner from Ellenabad in 1970, Darba in 1990 and Narwana in the 1993 byelection.

Hindustan Times

03-11-2021

Chandigarh