Prestige of four parties at stake in Jind bypoll

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 1

The prestige of four major political parties — the INLD, Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), Congress and BJP — will be at stake in the bypoll for the Jind Assembly segment scheduled to be held on January 28.

Of the over 1.7 lakh voters of the Jind Assembly segment, more than 1.07 lakh are urban voters while nearly 62,500 live in villages.

Going by the past history of this constituency, Mange Ram Gupta of the Congress has won the seat four times — in 1977, 1991, 2000 and 2005; Daya Kishan of the Congress won twice in 1967 and 1968; Dal Singh of the Congress won in 1972; Brij Mohan won on Lok Dal ticket in 1982 and Haryana Vikas Party symbol in 1996; Parma Nand of the Lok Dal won in 1987; while Hari Chand Midha of the INLD won from Jind in 2009 and 2014.

The INLD will like to retain this seat since the bypoll has been necessitated by the death of party MLA Hari Chand Midha. The JJP, launched by Dushyant Chautala after disassociation from the INLD, will be under pressure to win the first election of his party. The Congress needs to win the election if it wants to send across the message that it is on a comeback trail in the Assembly elections to be held later this year. For the BJP, it would be humiliating if it fails to win a byelection while being in power.

Most political parties are waiting for the others to take a decision on their candidates so that they could take a decision accordingly looking into the caste equations.

“I have my programmes till January 6. These were fixed much in advance. Once I am free from these rallies, I will concentrate all my energies to Jind. We are not in a hurry to name our candidate and we will wait for the others to take a call first,” said INLD leader Abhay Singh Chautala.

Midha’s son Krishan Midha has already quit the INLD to join the BJP.

Former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda said he would be in Chandigarh for the next three days and the party would hold a meeting for the bypoll after that.

“People will vote for the Congress in the byelection as they want our party to come to power in this year’s Assembly poll,” he said.

Subhash Barala, state president of the BJP, said: “We will be the first to announce our candidate. The results of MC polls have made it clear that the people want the BJP to come to power again.” 

The JJP’s fate, however, depends on the ECI as the party is yet to get a registration certificate.

“We are expecting the registration by January 3 or 4. In case there is any delay, we will field a candidate supported by the JJP, if not by the party’s name,” said a JJP source requesting anonymity.