First for Haryana: 10/10 for BJP

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 23

For the first time since Haryana was carved out as a separate state in 1966, the BJP made a clean sweep by winning all 10 Lok Sabha seats in the state, while the Congress, the INLD and its offshoot JJP faced humiliating defeats.

Prominent among the losers were former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his son Deepender Hooda. Deepender, in particular, was confident of retaining the Rohtak seat, which his family has won 11 out of 17 times. 

The BJP also succeeded in smashing the bastions of the Chautala clan at Sirsa and Hisar. Besides Hoodas, the other big name who lost was former Union minister Kumari Selja in Ambala. Union Minister Rao Inderjit Singh defeated old rival Capt Ajay Yadav, while Union Minister Krishan Pal Gujjar, who won the Faridabad seat in 2014 with a 4.7 lakh margin, defeated former Congress MP Avtar Singh Bhadana.

Former CM Om Prakash Chautala’s grandsons — Arjun, Dushyant and Digvijay — also faced defeat. 

The Hisar seat was won by bureaucrat-turned-politician Brijendra Singh. Bhiwani-Mahendragarh was won by Dharambir Singh, while Sanjay Bhatia and Nayab Singh Saini secured huge victories in Karnal and Kurukshetra.