Indian National Lok Dal’s Abhay Singh Chautala on Tuesday defeated his nearest rival and BJP nominee Gobind Kanda by over 6,000 votes in a close contest to retain the Ellenabad Assembly seat in Haryana. However, the BJP managed to narrow the margin of defeat to almost half compared to 2019.
Congress’ Pawan Beniwal polled 20,904 votes to finish a distant third.
Amid farmers’ stir
In an election fought under the shadow of the farmers’ agitation in a predominantly rural Assembly segment, Mr. Chautala had a clear edge over his rivals, with Ellenabad being the fortress of the Chatuala clan. Further Mr. Chautala had resigned in protest against the three farm laws.
However, the joint candidate of the BJP-JJP (Jannayak Janata Party) Gobind Kanda put up a tough fight, with the margin of votes between the two narrowing down to less than 3,000 after the tenth round of counting. While Mr. Chautala polled 65,992 votes in 16-round counting of votes, Mr. Kanda got 59,253 votes, as per the Election Commission of India app.
Mr. Kanda, the elder brother of Sirsa MLA and Haryana Lokhit Party founder Gopal Kanda, had joined the BJP days before the Assembly poll and was a consensus candidate of the ruling alliance. The Congress had placed its bets on BJP turncoat Mr. Beniwal, who had finished second in 2019 fighting on saffron party’s symbol.
Tikait support
Campaigning against the BJP-JJP nominee, Samyukt Kisan Morcha leader Rakesh Tikait had, in a broad hint, asked the electorate to ensure victory for Mr. Chautala with an improved margin. However, the SKM later clarified that the farmer unions did not support any party or candidate in the election.
In the first reaction to the results, Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij said that “Abhay Chautala has won this election technically, but lost on moral grounds”. Taking a dig at Congress, Mr. Vij said that the people of Ellenabad had shown Congress its place. He said his party would analyse the result.
