BJP wins Jind bypoll amid ''missing'' EVMs row

Jind, January 31

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today won the Jind byelection with its candidate Krishan Middha polling 12,935 votes more than Jannayak Janata Party (JJP)-backed Independent Digvijay Chautala, who came second. The JJP was floated last month by jailed leader Ajay  Singh Chautala following a feud with his brother Abhay Chautala. 

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Congress national spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala barely saved his security deposit. He was placed third. Polling less than 3,500 votes, the INLD was on the fifth spot. The bypoll was necessitated owing to the demise of INLD legislator Hari Chand Middha on August 26, 2018. His son Krishan Middha joined the BJP that fielded him for the byelection. The counting process was halted briefly during the  seventh round when polling agents of the LSP and the JJP alleged a “mismatch” in the serial numbers of two EVMs. The police resorted to a lathi-charge to disperse workers of the two parties after they created a ruckus outside the counting centre. Both Digvijay and Surjewala filed written complaints with Election Commission officials. 

The BJP win, the first from Jind Assembly constituency, comes as a boost for the party ahead of the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. Its party candidate got 38.65 per cent of the total 1,30,828 votes polled. 

Newly elected MLA Middha credited his victory to "Sabka saath, sabka vikas" and the CM's "clean image and transparent functioning." He listed sewerage, roads and water supply as his top priorities. 

Divgvijay Chautala said he had received a good response in both rural and urban segments. He refused to comment on the performance of the INLD candidate. His elder brother and Hisar MP Dushyant Chautala claimed: “While Middha won the election, we won hearts. This is only a trailer and a befitting reply to those who dubbed our party as Jamanat Jabt Party”, an obvious dig at his uncle Abhay Chautala.  

Congress nominee Surjewala called it a "victory of the agenda of caste politic" pursued by CM Khattar. “I have submitted a complaint to the EC authorities on the EVMs. While two dozen machines did not have valid numbers, some didn't have a number at all," he said while denying a rift in the party. — TNS

‘Stamp on governance’

It’s a mandate for BJP government’s transparent policies and corruption-free, all-round development ML Khattar, CM