Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Saini won the Karnal Assembly by-election defeating the Congress’ Tarlochan Singh by 41,540 votes. The by-poll was necessitated after outgoing Chief Minister Manohar Lal had resigned in March this year.
Mr. Saini, the Kurukshetra Lok Sabha MP, had replaced Mr. Lal as the new Chief Minister in a cabinet reshuffle ahead of the Lok Sabha polls earlier this year. Following the reshuffle, Mr. Lal announced to resign as party MLA from Karnal Assembly seat. He was later made the party’s Karnal Lok Sabha candidate.
Mr. Saini’s victory has increased the BJP’s strength to 41 in the 90-member Legislative Assembly, which now has an effective strength of 88.
It assumes significance since the Opposition has been seeking imposition of the President’s Rule in the state after three Independent MLAs withdrew support to the BJP government saying that it was reduced to “minority”.
