Haryana: Lal, Chautala dynasties push back against BJP in strongholds

As trends from the counting of votes in the Haryana Assembly elections continue to show a hung Assembly is on the cards, the scions of three political dynasties in the state are holding on to their fiefdoms.

The trio of Devi Lal, Bhajan Lal and Bansi Lal were key poles in Haryana politics, dominating the state for most of the 1970s and 1980s as chief ministers, both as part of the Congress and outside it. And their children carried forward the mantle since. However, the BJP's clean sweep in the 2019 Parliamentary elections, winning all 10 seats in Haryana, had put these political 'dynasties' under threat.

We look at four Assembly seats in Haryana that have been closely associated with these three political dynasties:

Adampur: At 1.30pm, four hours after counting in the Assembly polls started, Kuldeep Bishnoi, son of Bhajan Lal, was leading in Adampur against Sonali Phogat of the BJP by over 26,000 votes. Kuldeep had left the Congress with Bhajan Lal in 2007 to form the Haryana Janhit Congress, only to return to the grand old party in 2016.

While Adampur has been represented by Bhajan Lal and members of his family for the last 13 Assembly elections, the BJP registered a massive win in Hisar in the Lok Sabha polls earlier this year. Adampur Assembly segment falls under Hisar. The BJP candidate who won in Hisar polled over 23,000 more votes in Adampur than the Congress candidate, who coincidently was the son of Kuldeep Bishnoi.

Ellenabad: Another family fiefdom that was threatened by the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls was Ellenabad, which falls under Sirsa district. Sirsa district has been considered a stronghold of the INLD. Members of the family of Devi Lal—his son Om Prakash Chautala and grandson Abhay Singh Chautala—had won from Ellenabad in 2009, 2010 and 2014. Abhay Singh Chautala had won in 2014.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Sunita Duggal of the BJP won from Sirsa by over 1.3 lakh votes. Duggal led in all Assembly segments, including Ellenabad. But on Thursday, Abhay Chautala was leading from Ellenabad over Pawan Beniwal of the BJP by over 9,000 votes.

Uchana Kalan: A Jat-dominated constituency, Uchana Kalan has been in the news as it is the constituency of Dushyant Chautala, the great-grandson of Devi Lal and grandson of Om Prakash Chautala. Dushyant formed the Jannayak Janata Party after being expelled from the INLD in December 2018. Dushyant named his party after the honorific of Devi Lal—Jannayak—and projected himself as a true heir to the legacy of the former deputy prime minister.

Uchana Kalan falls under the Hisar Lok Sabha seat, which the BJP had won. Dushyant had contested the Lok Sabha election from Hisar, losing by over 3 lakh votes to Brijendra Singh of the BJP.

However, in the Assembly election, trends show Dushyant leading by over 30,000 votes against Prem Latha, the incumbent BJP legislator. Prem Latha is also the mother of Brijendra Singh.

Tosham: Tosham was the family stronghold of the Bansi Lal dynasty. Since 1967, Bansi Lal won six Assembly elections from Tosham, while his son Surender Singh won twice and Surender's wife Kiran Chaudhary twice. They mostly fought on Congress tickets.

Kiran Chaudhary won on Congress tickets in 2009 (margin of 45,000 votes) and 2019 (margin of over 19,000 votes). In the 2019 Assembly election, Kiran Chaudhary seems set to win a third straight term from Tosham, as she had a lead over 14,000 votes over Shashi Ranjan Parmar of the BJP.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had won the Bhiwani–Mahendragarh Parliamentary seat, of which Tosham is an Assembly segment. Then, the BJP had a lead over 30,000 votes in Tosham as the saffron party's Dharambir Singh defeated Kiran Chaudhary's daughter Shruti Chaudhary.