CHANDIGARH: These Assembly elections throw up surprises in Haryana. While the state is witnessing the highest number of women contestants in its history, several babus are trying their luck in the electoral battlefield after putting in years in the government service. And the crorepati club of contestants is swelling in the state known for rich politicians.
Women Power
The state which has the lowest sex ratio in the country and is also infamous for honour killings has a record number of women candidates in the fray—109, the highest ever since the inception of Haryana in 1966. In 2009, there were only 68 women contestants.
There are 74.5 lakh women voters in the state out of the total 1.62 crore voters. The overall sex ratio is 879 women per 1,000 men against the national average: 943.
The BJP and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) have doubled their number of women candidates from 2009. BJP has nominated 15 women and INLD 13 for the 90-member Assembly.
The Congress has given tickets to only 10 women while Haryana Janhit Congress to just six.
Congress has renominated Kiran Chaudhary who is fighting from Tosham. The daughter-in-law of former CM Bansi Lal and wife of late agriculture minister Surender Singh, she had won from Bhiwani in 2005 and 2009, and is the state’s Excise and Taxation Minister.
Similarly, Savitri Jindal is fighting again from Hisar. The Local Bodies Minister had won from there thrice. She became active in politics after her husband O P Jindal died in a helicopter crash in 2005. Her son Naveen Jindal is a former MP from Kurukshetra.
While Education and Health Minister Geeta Bhukkal from Jhajjar, who has been elected twice in 2005 and 2009, is contesting this time too, the niece of former minister Laxman Singh Gill, Manvir Kaur, is fighting from Kalka for the first time.
On the BJP side, first-timer Vandana Sharma, the younger sister of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, is contesting from Safidon. The party’s c0ntestant from Uchana Kalan is Prem Lata, wife of Birender Singh.
From the reserved constituency of Ratia, the BJP has nominated former IRS officer Sunita Duggal. Swatantra Baala Choudhary who has been given ticket from Fatehabad recently defected from INLD to BJP.
BJP’s candidate from Sirsa is Sunita Setia, daughter of former minister Laxman Das Arora who was in the Congress and passed away in 2012.
Not to be left behind, INLD has also distributed tickets to women. For the first time a woman from the Chautala family is in the poll fray. Naina Singh, wife of Dabwali MLA Ajay Singh, is contesting from the same constituency as her husband is behind bars in JBT Teachers Recruitment case.
Renuka Bishnoi, wife of HJC chief Kuldeep Bishnoi, is contesting from Hansi. Also, Shakti Rani Sharma, wife of Haryana Jan Chetna Party (HJCP) president Venod Sharma, is contesting from Kalka.
Crorepati Club
There is no dearth of crorepati candidates in Haryana. To start with, HJCP chief Venod Sharma is the richest candidate. He owns assets worth over `153.13 crore which has grown by 75 per cent than last time. He has declared immovable properties—residential, commercial and agriculture land—in New Delhi, Ambala, Kullu, Chandigarh, Solan and Manali.
Sharma is followed by Haryana Lokhit Party president Gopal Goyal Kanda, who is worth `114.75 crore. Kanda whose assets grew by 82 per cent, up from ` 63.15 crore in 2009 to `114.75 crore, has declared gold worth `1.13 crore. Both Sharma and Kanda floated their political parties recently.
Local Bodies Minister Savitri Jindal is worth Rs 113.27 crore.
Independent candidate and sitting MLA from Gurgaon, Sukhbir Kataria, currently also Minister for State Agriculture in the Hooda Government, is worth `104 crore. Kataria has movable assets worth `10 crore and immovable assets worth `82 crore. His movable and immovable assets in 2009 were `3 crore and `35 crore respectively.
HJC chief Kuldeep Bishnoi is also one of the rich candidates with assets worth `80.11 crore. His assets have grown by a whopping 363 per cent since the last Assembly elections in 2009—from `17.30 crore to `80.11 crore.
The worth of CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s assets is far less than that of the aforementioned candidates. He has declared properties worth only Rs 8.82 crore. However, Hooda who is eyeing a third straight term has witnessed an almost four-fold jump in his assets—from Rs 2.70 crore in 2009 to Rs 8.82 crore. He is contesting from Garhi Sampla Kiloi.
Babus in Poll Mode
Several bureaucrats and police officers are jumping on the election bandwagon. Ramindra Jakhu, Haryana cadre IAS officer who retired as Additional Chief Secretary in December last year, joined BJP.
Former IAS officer ML Sarwan’s wife Santosh Sarwan has got ticket from Mulana constituency while the BJP has fielded retired officer Abhay Singh Yadav from Nangal Choudhary. Two recently retired IPS officers—ADGP Ram Chander Jowal and IGP Ranbir Sharma—have floated their own parties. Jowal formed the Apna Raj Front while Sharma has created his own Lok Swaraj Party.