CHANDIGARH : In the Lok Sabha elections, Haryana will witness a four-cornered contest with the ruling BJP, Congress, Indian National Lok Dal, and Jannayak Janta Party all competing independently. It remains to be seen whether the state will once again deliver a decisive verdict or if the seats will be split. Voting will take place in the 6th phase on May 25.
The BJP was the first party in the state to announce all its ten candidates, aiming to replicate its previous performance by retaining all seats. In the 2019 elections, the party won all ten LS seats. This time, Congress has allied with the AAP for the first time in Haryana. The Congress will contest nine out of ten seats, while AAP will contest from Kurukshetra.
In Kurukshetra, Abhay Chautala of INLD will face off against Sushil Gupta of AAP, who is contesting as the INDIA bloc candidate, and Naveen Jindal, who recently joined the BJP. Former Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar of the BJP is pitted against Divyashu Buddhiraja of Congress in Karnal. In Rohtak, it is Deepender Hooda of Congress versus the sitting BJP MP Arvind Sharma. In Hisar, the candidates are Nanina Chautala of JJP, Sunaina Chautala of INLD, Ranjit Singh of BJP, and Jai Parkash of Congress. In Ambala, it is Banto Kataria of BJP against Varun Chaudhary of Congress, while in Faridabad, the BJP has again fielded Krishan Pal against Congress’s Mahendra Pratap. In Gurugram, the BJP’s sitting MP Rao Inderjit Singh will face Bollywood star Raj Babbar of Congress.
The INLD and JJP have also fielded their candidates for the upcoming elections.
The BJP is focusing on the OBC vote bank, replacing Manohar Lal Khattar with Nayab Singh Saini, an OBC leader, as the state has 8% OBC voters. The BJP hopes that Jat votes will be divided among Congress, JJP, and INLD, who have a substantial Jat vote bank. The BJP’s strategy is to secure the non-Jat and urban votes.