Amitabh Shukla /
In one of the most keenly watched by-elections of the country, the Haryana Janhit Congress-BJP on Monday won the Hisar Lok Sabha seat, paving the way for a new realignment in state and national politics. Congress came a distant third, losing its security deposit and triggering a serious introspection in the state unit in the aftermath of the embarrassment which the result has caused to the party.
Congress got much less votes than it got in the last Lok Sabha polls, indicating that the campaign of Team Anna to vote against the grand old party indeed worked and from now on it cannot downplay the “Anna factor”.
The margin of the victory of HJC-BJP candidate Kuldeep Bishnoi was a mere 6335 votes as INLD candidate Ajay Chautala held on to his stronghold in the rural area. Moreover, it seems there was a complete polarisation of the Jat votes in favour of the INLD. The dominant community deserted the Congress and saw Chautala as a viable alternative in the state.
In the Jat dominated Uchana Kalan constituency, Chautala led Bishnoi by almost 35000 votes, suggesting that Jat votes favoured the INLD in a big way. Interestingly, the constituency is considered a stronghold of AICC General Secretary Birender Singh, considered a detractor of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in state politics. The sitting MLA from the seat is INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala who had defeated Birender in the last Assembly poll.
But it was the performance of the Congress which was being keenly watched. This was the first election after the agitation of Anna Hazare and their decision to campaign against the Congress. The result has shown that the Anna factor affected the outcome even though there cannot be any method to determine how much. But if the voting margin in Hisar segment, a predominantly urban area, is any indicator, the factor favoured Bishnoi who led by around 34000 votes here.
Of the three main candidates in the fray, Bishnoi and Chautala pledged to support the Jan Lok Pal Bill of Hazare and gave an undertaking to this effect. It was only the Congress which refused to sign the undertaking.
Even though the Congress has sitting MLAs from six of the nine Assembly segments falling in Hisar parliamentary constituency, the party failed to lead in even a single segment. It was such a close contest that of the nine segments, Bishnoi led in five while Chautala led in four.
There was another polarisation in the election and this was of the non-Jat votes. Bhajan Lal, the father of Bishnoi, whose death necessitated the bypolls, was the first leader who had used this polarisation to his advantage and remained the Chief Minister of the state for over a decade. Now, Bishnoi, in alliance with the BJP has ensured that the non-Jat votes go in their kitty.
Bishnoi rode the sympathy wave, generated due to the death of his father and fought the election on several issues – both national and local. For the INLD it was the “poor” performance of the state and central government along with inflation while the Congress fought the election on the plank of development, both in the state and Centre and this was its mantra for the election. (October 18, 2011)
BOX: Votes polled
1. Kuldeep Bishnoi (HJC-BJP) :355941
2. Ajay Chautala (INLD) : 349618
3. Jai Prakash (Congress) : 149785
http://dailypioneer.com/nation/13935-hisar-sets-the-tone-for-political-churning.html
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