Haryana: How Congress Rebels-Turned-Independents Influenced 12 Key Seats

New Delhi: Amid questions being raised about the Congress’ ticket distribution, failure to contain factionalism and rebellion following its defeat in the Haryana assembly elections, the role played by independent candidates, particularly Congress rebels, has also come under the spotlight.

With 37 seats, the Congress lost to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which bagged 48 of the total 90 seats.

In at least 12 seats, Congress rebels played an important role. While one rebel, Rajesh Joon, won the election from Bahadurgarh, rebels came second and third in 11 other seats won by the BJP or Congress.

Of these 11, there were four seats in which the Congress rebels came second and seven where they came third. The votes won by rebels were more than the winning margin on three of these seven seats.

Additionally, in two seats won by the Congress, BJP rebels won more votes than the winning margin.

Independents who were not rebels from either the BJP or the Congress also performed well and won more votes than the winning margin in five other seats.

Besides the Congress and the BJP, the Indian Nationalist Lok Dal (INLD) won two seats and independents three. Along with Joon, the other two independents – Savitri Jindal and Devender Kadyan – have since announced their support for the BJP. Both of them were earlier denied tickets by the saffron party.

Congress rebels at second spot in four seats won by BJP

Of the 11 seats lost by the Congress to the BJP, in four, rebels who were denied tickets by the grand old party came second, relegating the Congress candidates to the third spot. These include Ambala Cantt, Pundri, Ballabgarh and Tigaon.

Table: Seats where Congress rebels came second to the BJP. Source: ECI.

In Ambala Cantt, Chitra Sarwara won 52,581 votes and lost to the BJP’s Anil Vij by a margin of 7,277. The Congress’ Parvinder Pal Pari won only 14,469 votes.

In Pundri, Congress rebel Satbir Bhana won 40,608 votes and lost to the BJP’s Satpal Jamba by a margin of 2,197 votes. The Congress candidate Sultan Jadaula came third and won 26,341 votes.

In Ballabgarh, Sharda Rathore won 44,076 votes and lost to the BJP’s Mool Chand Sharma by a margin of 17,730. The Congress candidate Parag Sharma finished fourth on the seat.

In Tigaon, Lalit Nagar lost to the BJP’s Rajesh Nagar by a margin of 37,401 votes. The Congress’ Rohit Nagar came third with 21,656 votes.

Congress rebels with more votes than the winning margin

In three seats won by the BJP, Congress rebels won votes higher than the winning margin. These include Uchana Kalan, Badhra, Gohana.

Table: Seats where Congress rebels won more votes than the winning margin. Source: ECI.

In Uchana Kalan, Congress’ Brijendra Singh lost to the BJP’s Devender Chatar Bhuj Atri by only 32 votes. Congress rebel Virender Gogharain won 31,456 votes.

In Badhra, Congress rebel Somveer Ghasola came third and won 26,730 votes. The winning margin between the Congress’ Somvir Singh (51,730) and BJP’s Umed Singh (59.315) was 7,585.

In Gohana, Harsh Chhikara who was denied a Congress ticket won 14,761 votes while the winning margin was 10,429 between the Congress’ Jagbir Singh Malik and the BJP’s Arvind Kumar Sharma.

In four other seats where the Congress came second to the BJP, the third spot was also taken by its rebels.

Table: Congress rebels at third spot in four seats won by BJP. Source: ECI

In Nilokheri, Raj Kumar who was denied a ticket by the Congress came third and won 5,470 votes. The winning margin between the BJP’s Bhagwan Dass and the Congress’ Dharam Pal was 18,845.

In Panipat City, Congress rebel Rohita Rewri came third and won 15,546 votes. The Congress’ Varinder Kumar Shah won 46,078 votes and lost to the BJP’s Parmod Kumar Vij by a margin of 35,672.

In Panipat Rural, Congress rebel Vijay Jain won 43,323 votes and came third while the Congress’ Sachin Kundu won 50,867 and lost to the BJP’s Mahipal Dhanda by 50,212 votes.

In Bawani Khera, Satbir Ratera won 11,287 votes and came third. Here the Congress’ Pradeep Narwal won 58,298 votes, losing to the BJP’s Kapoor Singh by 21,779 votes.

Independents won more than winning margin in five seats 

In five seats where Congress came second to the BJP, independent candidates, who were not Congress rebels, got more votes than the winning margin. This includes Kalka, Samalkha, Dadri, Tosham and Mahendergarh.

Table: Independent candidates winning more votes than the winning margin. Source: ECI

In Kalka, independent candidate Gopal Sukhomajri won 31,688 votes which was more than the winning margin between the Congress and BJP candidates. The BJP’s Shakti Rani Sharma won 60,612 votes and defeated Congress’ Pardeep Chaudhary by 10,883 votes.

In Samalkha, independent candidate Ravinder Machhrauli won 21,132 votes where the winning margin was 19,315.

In Dadri, independent Sanjay Chhaparia won 3,713 votes where the winning margin was 1,957.

In Tosham, independent Shashi Ranjan Parma won 15,859 votes while the winning margin was 14,257.

In Mahendergarh, independent Sandeep Singh won 20,834 where the winning margin was 2,648 votes.

Two BJP rebels won more votes than the winning margin

In seats won by the Congress, the BJP too has been affected by its own rebels.

Radha Ahlawat, who was denied a BJP ticket, won 29,211 votes from Meham which was more than the margin of 18,060. While the Congress’ Balram Dangi won the seat (56,865), Balraj Kundu of the Haryana Jan Sevak Party came second (38,805) and the BJP’s Deepak Hooda came fourth with 8,929 votes.

In Prithla, independent Nayan Pal Rawat, who had supported the previous BJP government as an independent but withdrew support in May, won more votes than the winning margin. Rawat won 22,023 votes while the winning margin was 20,541. The Congress’ Raghubir Tewatia won 70,262 and the BJP’s Tek Chand Sharma came second with 49,721.