BJP’s win margin dips by 15.25%, Congress gains 18.02% in Karnal

Parveen Arora

Karnal, June 6

Despite securing a significant victory, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) witnessed a notable dip in its victory margin in the Karnal constituency, with a decrease of 15.25 per cent compared to the 2019 elections.

Former Chief Minister and BJP candidate Manohar Lal Khattar gained 54.83 per cent of the votes, while in 2019, the BJP candidate, Sanjay Bhatia, got 70.06 per cent of the votes. Bhatia had received 911,594 votes, achieving the second-highest margin in the country.

The BJP has replaced Bhatia with Khattar in 2024 for the Karnal seat, who secured victory over Congress candidate Divyanshu Budhiraja by a margin of 232,577 votes. Khattar got a total of 739,285 votes, including 2,003 postal votes, while Budhiraja received 506,708 votes and 2,271 postal votes.

Interestingly, the Congress witnessed a significant rise in its vote share, with Budhiraja securing 37.65 per cent of the votes, marking an 18.02 per cent increase from the 19.63 per cent vote share of previous Congress candidate Kuldeep Sharma in 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The decrease in the BJP’s vote percentage has raised concerns within the party, while despite defeat, the Congress leaders are elated with the rise in the voter share. Divyanshu Budhiraja said the vote share of the Congress had increased significantly, for which they were thankful to the people of Karnal and Panipat district. “We all will work to increase the vote share in the upcoming Assembly elections,” said Budhiraja.

Political experts suggest that the results signal a need for introspection. “The BJP has once again managed to retain its stronghold in Karnal as it won both seats — Karnal Lok Sabha and Karnal Assembly byelection. Contesting both heavyweight leaders also helped the BJP in securing the victory,” said Dr Kushal Pal, political affairs expert and principal of Indira Gandhi National College, Ladwa. He added that the results were an eye-opener for the party, emphasising the necessity to analyse and address the reasons behind the reduced victory margin.