LS poll results set alarm bells ringing for Rohtak legislators

ROHTAK:The “below-expectation” performance of the Congress in the Kalanaur, Meham and Jhajjar Assembly segments of the Rohtak parliamentary constituency has set alarm bells ringing for its respective sitting MLAs in the state Assembly polls slated to be held in October.

Ravinder Saini

Tribune News Service

Rohtak, May 25

The “below-expectation” performance of the Congress in the Kalanaur, Meham and Jhajjar Assembly segments of the Rohtak parliamentary constituency has set alarm bells ringing for its respective sitting MLAs in the state Assembly polls slated to be held in October.

Similarly, the defeat faced by the BJP in the Badli segment represented by Agriculture Minister Om Prakash Dhankar in the Vidhan Sabha is also likely to affect his poll prospect to a large extent in the Assembly elections.

The BJP gave a dismal performance in Dhankar’s native Dhakla village too, with the Congress having a lead there.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress had taken a lead of 11,554 votes over the BJP in Badli. The Congress’ lead remained almost same in these elections too, despite Dhankar’s tall claims of trouncing the Congress in Badli this time.

The Congress had an impressive lead in Kalanaur, Meham and Jhajjar over the BJP in the previous Lok Sabha elections also.

In 2014, Congress nominee Deepender Hooda secured a massive lead of more than 55,000 votes from Meham and pushed the BJP at the third place there. This time, however, the Congress’ lead shrank to merely 14,105 votes even as party leaders were expecting more than 25,000 votes. Anand Singh Dangi is the Congress MLA from Meham for past three terms.

Kalanaur is considered bastion of the Congress, which got a lead of 33,328 votes over the BJP in 2014, whereas in these Lok Sabha polls, the BJP defeated the Congress by 4,312 votes. Shakuntla Khatak is Congress MLA from Kalanaur since 2009.

Similarly, the Congress had a lead of 22,214 votes from Jhajjar in 2014, but it reduced to 4,649 this time.

“Jhajjar was the epicentre of the arson and violence during the Jat quota stir in February 2016, so its post-effect is the reason behind the sharp decline in the lead in the Jhajjar Assembly segment,” said Om Prakash, a local resident.

Political experts said in the Assembly elections held some months after the Lok Sabha polls in 2014, the BJP had unseated the Congress in four of the nine Assembly segments of the Rohtak parliamentary constituency.

Congress’ vote share shrinks

In 2014, Congress nominee Deepender Hooda secured a massive lead of more than 55,000 votes from Meham and pushed the BJP at the third place there. This time, however, the Congress’ lead shrank to merely 14,105 votes even as party leaders were expecting more than 25,000 votes
Kalanaur is considered bastion of the Congress, which got a lead of 33,328 votes over the BJP in 2014, whereas in these Lok Sabha polls, the BJP defeated the Congress by 4,312 votes