BJP breaks the jinx in Haryana with Adampur bypoll win

Tribune News Service

Geetanjali Gayatri

Chandigarh, November 6

The Adampur bypoll victory in Haryana has come as a shot in the arm for the BJP, the party having suffered two consecutive defeats in Baroda and Ellenabad over the past two years.

Congratulating BJP candidate Bhavya Bishnoi, Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar said the result showed the “people’s faith in the inclusive policies” of the BJP-JJP combine’s double-engine government that had “fast-tracked development”.

The BJP now has 41 MLAs in the 90-member Assembly whereas its ally JJP has 10. The Khattar government is supported by six Independent MLAs and one of the Haryana Lokhit Party. The opposition Congress has been reduced to 30 MLAs.

Having held the Adampur seat since 1968, Bhavya is the sixth member of ex-CM Bhajan Lal’s family to be elected from the segment. The seat was earlier represented by Bhajan Lal, his wife Jasma Devi, Kuldeep Bishnoi and his wife Renuka Bishnoi.

Though Bhavya’s winning margin (15,740 votes) has almost halved compared to his father Kuldeep Bishnoi’s 29,471 votes (then in Congress) in the 2019 Assembly poll, the victory has again proved that Adampur would elect only a member of the Bishnoi family irrespective of the party they contest from.

Congress leader Deepender Hooda said the reduced victory margin of the Bishnois was an indication that the Congress would form the next government in the state.

INLD’s Kurda Ram Nambardar, a Congress rebel, secured 5,248 votes while AAP’s Satender Singh got 3,420 votes. Both along with 18 lost their deposits even as NOTA polled 237 votes.

For the AAP, testing the waters in Haryana after its victory in Punjab, the result is a loss of face.  

Its entire leadership including Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann campaigned for party candidate, who had switched over from the BJP. However, he was among those who lost their security deposit and the AAP, reduced to an also-ran, lost its chance of making its presence felt in Haryana. This election was particularly crucial for the party since it wanted to use its performance as a launching pad. However, clearly, the party miscalculated its standing and would need a re-think before it comes back for the 2024 assembly polls. 

Further, this election also clearly polarised the votes between the Jats and non-Jats, like previous elections, with only Jai Prakash and Bhavya cornering the majority of the votes. This polarisation is only likely to get starker in the run-up to the polls.    

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