LS poll results in a warning for scions of three Lals : The Tribune India

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LS poll results in a warning for scions of three Lals

The scions of three famous Lals (Devi Lal, Bansi Lal and Bhajan Lal) will be facing a tough challenge in their ‘pocket boroughs’ in the forthcoming Assembly elections in Haryana.

LS poll results in a warning for scions of three Lals


Deepender Deswal

The scions of three famous Lals (Devi Lal, Bansi Lal and Bhajan Lal) will be facing a tough challenge in their ‘pocket boroughs’ in the forthcoming Assembly elections in Haryana.

Bhajan Lal’s family has unequivocal dominance in the Adampur Assembly constituency in Hisar district as it has consistently won the seat since 1968. Bansi Lal's family too has won the Tosham seat 11 times and lost it only twice to arch rival Dharambir Singh in 1987 and 2000.

Devi Lal’s family members — son Om Prakash Chautala and grandson Abhay Chautala — have been representing the Dabwali and Ellanabad Assembly segments in Sirsa district since 2009 when these were de-reserved. Even earlier, when the two seats were reserved for the Scheduled Castes, Devi Lal’s handpicked candidates won the elections.

At a time when the BJP seems to be on a rampage in Haryana, as evident from the Lok Sabha election results, political experts say that the Lal dynasties are no longer comfortable in their strongholds.

Bhajan Lal’s bastion dented

In Bhajan Lal’s stronghold seat Adampur, his grandson and Congress nominee Bhavya Bishnoi trailed to BJP candidate Brijendra Singh by 23,227 votes. Bhavya's father Kuldeep Bishnoi is the Congress MLA from Adampur. Known as the citadel of Bhajan Lal, Adampur always supported him and his family members. Bhajan Lal was elected from Adampur nine times, his son Kuldeep won the seat twice while his wife Jasma Devi and daughter-in-law Renuka Bishnoi too have represented Admapur in the Assembly once each.

Shocker in Bansi Lal’s Tosham

Bansi Lal’s granddaughter Shruti Choudhry got a shock in their family’s stronghold seat Tosham in the last Lok Sabha elections. Shruti was the Congress candidate and she trailed to BJP nominee Dharambir Singh by 34,025 votes in the constituency. Shruti’s mother Kiran Choudhry represents the Tosham segment in the Assembly. Former Chief Minister Bansi Lal had won the Tosham seat six times while his son Surender Singh and daughter-in-law Kiran Choudhry had won the seat thrice each.  

The massive lead the BJP gained in the stronghold Assembly seats of influential political families is an indication of the changing scenario. Pawan Kumar Bansal, a political analyst, says that the families of the three Lals have nurtured their home constituencies meticulously for years by arranging development funds and providing jobs. “They have strong connections with local people. Political workers in these stronghold seats get a place of prominence in parties as well. However, as these political families have been out of power for long, they seem to be losing their grip. The influence of Bhajan Lal, Bansi Lal and Devi Lal and his son Om Prakash Chautala was all pervasive. But once out of power, political leaders are unable to fulfil the aspirations of people, gradually leading to disenchantment, especially among neutral voters,” says Bansal. The Lok Sabha election results are a warning signal for these political families of Haryana.

INLD trailed in Chautala’s Ellanabad, Dabwali seats

The Ellanabad constituency in Sirsa has been a bastion of the Chautala family. INLD leader Abhay Chautala represents it in the Assembly. But in the last parliamentary elections INLD candidate and sitting MP Charanjeet Singh Rori came third. BJP candidate Sunita Duggal won the elections while Congress candidate Ashok Tanwar was runner-up. The Dabwali Assembly seat, another stronghold of Chautalas, too dealt a shocker to the INLD as Rori got only 15,322 votes there and trailed to Sunita Duggal. Duggal also took a comfortable lead in the Ellanabad seat. Devi Lal’s son Pratap Chautala had been the MLA from Ellanabad in 1967 while another son Om Prakash Chautala represented it in 1970. Later, the seat was reserved for Scheduled Castes. It was de-reserved in 2009 when Om Prakash Chautala won the seat. His son Abhay Chautala had won the seat twice — in 2010 (byelection) and 2014. Chautala’s another son Ajay Chautala also strengthened his hold in the Dabwali Assembly seat after it was de-reserved in 2009. His wife Naina Chautala is the sitting MLA from Dabwali.

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