Bhavya seeks re-election from family fiefdom Adampur seat

The Bishnoi family of former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal is seeking re-election for the 17th time from Adampur constituency in Hisar.

Bhavya Bishnoi, who is grandson of former CM Bhajan Lal, is the sitting MLA and will slug it out to retain the family pocket borough in the elections. The family has won the seat 16 times in a row since 1968. While AAP has nominated Bhupender Beniwal, the Congress is yet to declare its candidate from here.

The Bishnoi family opened its election office in Adampur town on Monday. Surprisingly, none of the senior BJP leaders from the state or the central leadership, including CM Nayab Singh Saini and state president Mohan Lal Badoli, attended the inauguration and the filing of the nomination papers.

Notably, Bhavya’s father, former MP Kuldeep Bishnoi was reportedly upset with the BJP leadership after he was denied the ticket from Hisar LS constituency. His resentment with former CM Manohar Lal Khattar reportedly grew further when Khattar made remarks regarding the style of functioning of the former CM Bhajan Lal during the LS poll campaign for BJP candidate Ranjit Singh in Hisar. Though Saini met Bishnoi and even attended a function of the Bishnoi Sabha on August 26 in Hisar, Bishnoi and his MLA son Bhavya skipped six events of the CM in Hisar in recent past, indicating all is not well with them.

Bishnoi said the local electorate of the Adampur had supported them since 1968 and he was sure “the people will continue to support us”.

The electoral record of the Adampur segment revealed that Bhajan Lal started his political journey in 1968 by winning the seat for the Congress. He later went on to win this seat nine times (1968, 1972, 1977, 1982, 1991, 1996, 2000, 2005 and 2008). His wife Jasma Devi won this seat in 1987 to defy the Lok Dal wave even as the Lok Dal alliance won 85 of 90 seats in Haryana.

Lal’s son Kuldeep Bishnoi won this seat four times (1998 byelection, 2009, 2014 and 2019). Kuldeep’s wife Renuka Bishnoi also made her electoral debut when she entered Assembly in 2010 through byelection. Kuldeep’s son Bhavya also won this seat in 2022 byelection on the BJP ticket and is now again seeking re-election.