Multi-corner contest in Meham, several greenhorns in poll fray

The Meham Assembly constituency, which hit the headlines following a large-scale violence during a bypoll in 1990 that led to killing of an Independent candidate, is set to witness a multi-cornered contest.

Interestingly, four of the five main candidates in the fray are debutants while the fifth one is outgoing Independent MLA Balraj Kundu, who, too is trying his fortune in the poll battle for the second time but this time under the aegis of his Haryana Jansevak Party.

He had sprung a surprise by defeating five-time MLA and Congress veteran Anand Singh Dangi in the previous Assembly polls in 2019 at a time when the Congress clinched all three other seats of Rohtak district, considered a bastion of former Chief Minister and Congress stalwart Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

The Congress has this time fielded Dangi’s son Balram Dangi while former Indian kabaddi team skipper Deepak Niwas Hooda is a BJP candidate. Similarly, BJP rebel Shamsher Kharkara has pitted his wife Radha Ahlawat as an Independent while Vikas Nehra is in the fray as a AAP nominee. All these are newcomers in the Assembly poll battle.

Besides them, two-time former MLA Balbir Singh alias Bali Pahalwan as an Independent and Hawa Singh as the BSP candidate have jumped into the poll fray. Meham is dominated by the Jats and many candidates from this community in the fray have made it a close contest. All candidates are going all out to woo the voters. The seat means a lot for the Congress for different reasons.

Former CM Hooda launched the Congress’ poll campaign in Meham by addressing a series of poll meetings at various villages of the constituency on Monday and appealed to the people to elect Balram to form the Congress government in the state.

On Tuesday, Rohtak MP Deepender Hooda too came to Meham to address poll meetings. Addressing a meeting in Farmana village of Meham constituency, Deepender said: “We have struggled for 10 years against the anti-people BJP government in the state. Now, the time has come to decide the fate of this struggle. This is not a simple election. It is the 'agnipariksha' of our struggle. It is a fight for the development of Meham and the entire state. So vote for Balram on October 5 to make him the winner. His victory will ensure formation of the Congress government in the state.”