New Delhi:

After the resounding defeat in the recent Haryana Assembly elections, Congress’ General Secretary and Haryana in-charge, Deepak Babaria, has offered to resign, taking moral responsibility for the party’s dismal showing. The offer comes amid internal party deliberations on the reasons behind the disastrous poll performance, which shattered Congress’s hopes of making a comeback after a decade in the Opposition and allowed the BJP to achieve a hat-trick of Assembly elections victory. 

The BJP managed to defy anti-incumbency, securing a third consecutive term in Haryana, while the Congress was left scrambling for answers. The BJP’s electoral victory, their best-ever in the state, saw them win 48 seats – 11 more than the Congress – leaving little room for the opposition to recover. Smaller players, such as the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), were decimated, while the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) could only manage two seats.

Congress had heavily relied on Dalit and Jat voters, groups that constitute nearly 20 per cent and 25 per cent of Haryana’s population, respectively. However, the BJP made significant inroads into both, leaving the Congress struggling to hold onto its traditional support bases.

The BJP managed to flip eight of the 17 Scheduled Caste (SC) seats, including Nilokheri, Pataudi, Kharkhauda, Hodal, Bawal, Narwana, Israna, and Bawani Khera. The most significant upset came in Hodal, where Haryana Congress chief Udai Bhan lost to BJP’s Harinder Singh.

Despite these losses, the Congress held onto the remaining nine SC seats but failed to make any decisive gains. In comparison, the BJP’s performance marked an improvement from the 2019 elections, when it won only five SC seats.

Following his party’s defeat, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi expressed his disappointment with the election results. In his first reaction, he described the outcome as “unexpected” and said the party was conducting an internal analysis to understand the reasons behind the loss. Mr Gandhi thanked the people of Haryana for their support and promised to continue fighting for “rights, social and economic justice, and the truth.” 
 

New Delhi:

After the Congress lost the Haryana Assembly elections, Bharatiya Kisan Union spokesperson Rakesh Tikait said on Sunday that former chief minister Bhupinder Hooda’s stubbornness sank the party.

Reacting to a statement by farmer leader Gurnam Singh Charuni, he said, “There was resentment among the farmers. It is not that the farmers did not go with other parties. The farmers voted for every party. There is resentment among the people who joined the movement. Those who did not join the movement are with the government.”

“Elections are fought on a party basis, religion basis and caste basis. People will vote in favour of like-minded parties. A person who is a farmer, a labourer or a shopkeeper will vote for a party he has faith in. They (farmers) all live together in the organisation. If a person starts considering the people of the organisation as being in his favour, then he is wrong,” he added.

The BKU leader also raised questions about discrepancies in EVMs. “You did not understand mathematics. The public has voted…but they (BJP) are the ones who win… Like the sugarcane committee elections are being held in Uttar Pradesh, their (BJP’s) direct game here is to cancel the nominations of the people of the other party and win without election,” he told IANS.

“People in the BJP have become masters of elections… by fighting with sticks, intellect, or by making people fight with each other, they will win the elections. It is their tactic that they have to win the elections,” Mr Tikait said.

“There was definitely something wrong in this election (Haryana), we had said this earlier as well. EVMs are kept somewhere and then when elections are held somewhere else, are the EVMs shown to any party before they are sent to booths? The engineers do all the programme setting… yes, it is all a game of EVMs. You press any button…votes will go to them (BJP),” he claimed. 

Earlier in the day, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) chief Gurnam Singh Charuni blamed Mr Hooda for the Congress’ defeat in Haryana.

“Mr Hooda is the biggest reason for the Congress’ defeat because he did not compromise with anyone, and all responsibility was placed on him,” he asserted.

Three Independent Haryana MLAs, including India’s richest woman Savitri Jindal, are likely to extend support to the BJP government in the state. Ms Jindal, Devender Kadyan and Rajesh Joon will meet the BJP high command and the state election in-charge Dharmendra Pradhan today.

Ms Jindal, a former Congress minister, secured victory from Hisar – a seat that she had won in 2005 and 2009. Mr Kadyan, a BJP rebel, won from Ganaur as an Independent while Mr Joon defeated his BJP rival to secure victory in Bahadurgarh.

Ms Jindal, who had joined the BJP in March after parting ways with the Congress, contested the Haryana assembly polls as an Independent after being denied a ticket by the BJP.

Read | Is India’s Richest Woman Savitri Jindal BJP’s ‘B Team’ In Haryana? What She Told NDTV

The 74-year-old leader, however, denied that she was a rebel and told NDTV yesterday she contested as an Independent to respect the wishes of the people of Hisar.

“They (the people of Hisar) wanted me to contest at any cost. Doctor sahab (Dr Kamal Gupta) is contesting from the BJP and the Congress has fielded Rara sahab (Ram Niwas Rara), so I had no choice but to contest as an Independent,” said Ms Jindal, whose son Naveen Jindal is the BJP MP from Kurukshetra.

The BJP pulled a surprise victory in the Haryana elections yesterday to return to power for a historic third time in a row. Sources suggest Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini would return for a second stint in the top post for leading the BJP to victory.

For the BJP, which is comfortably past the halfway mark with 48 seats, support from the three Independents will further cement its strength in the 90-member assembly.

The Congress, which came second, has refused to accept the results and alleged several irregularities in the counting process.

The Aam Aadmi Party’s project to expand into Haryana, the home state of party chief Arvind Kejriwal, appears to have failed to take off once again with leads suggesting that it is on course to draw a blank.

If the trends hold, it will be a huge setback for the AAP, especially since it comes months ahead of the Delhi Assembly elections and because it has sparked discussions on whether the party made a strategic mistake by deciding not to ally with the Congress. 

While local leaders of the Congress were not in favour of an alliance with the AAP, senior leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi was learnt to have pushed for it, arguing that it would prevent a division of votes and give the opposition its best chance of defeating the BJP.

The senior leadership of the AAP was also learnt to have been keen on a tie-up but reports had said talks had hit a roadblock because the party wanted to contest at least 10 of Haryana’s 90 Assembly seats while the Congress was in no mood to concede more than seven.

The collapse of alliance discussions was expected to hurt the Congress in seven seats – Kalayat, Rania, Pehwa, Barwala, Jind, Bhiwani and Gurugram – but only the results will show how much of an impact the AAP managed to have. 

One of the key pitches by the party had been that it has popular governments in Delhi and Punjab, both of which are Haryana’s neighbours. Borrowing one of the BJP’s favourite phrases and one-upping it, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha had said that this would enable the party to bring a “triple engine” of development in the state. 

Bad Timing?

The Haryana results have come at a time when Arvind Kejriwal has given up the Delhi chief minister’s chair and, banking on his popularity, said that he will take up the post only if the AAP forms a government after the Assembly elections next year. 

The AAP chief had been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate and then by the CBI for his alleged involvement in the Delhi liquor policy ‘scam’. Two days after being granted bail by the Supreme Court last month, he had sprung a surprise by announcing his resignation and saying that while he has got justice from legal courts, he would now seek justice from the “people’s court”. 

“I will sit on the Chief Minister’s chair only after the order of the people… I want to ask the people of Delhi, is Kejriwal innocent or guilty? If I have worked, vote for me,” he had said. 

While the Haryana elections may not have a direct bearing on Delhi, if the party fails to win even one seat after contesting nearly all of them, it is expected to dent the morale of workers. The AAP had also lost the lone seat of Kurukshetra that it had contested from Haryana in the Lok Sabha polls as well as all four constituencies it had fought in Delhi.

Voting is underway in all 90 assembly constituencies of Haryana to decide the political fate of Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, and 1,000 other candidates contesting in the state assembly elections. Olympic wrestler Vinesh Phogat is also among the key candidates contesting on a Congress ticket. The ruling BJP is eyeing a hat-trick while the Congress is hoping to make a comeback in the state after a decade. The other key contestants are Congress, AAP, INLD, BSP, JJP and Azad Samaj Party (ASP).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi spearheaded the BJP’s campaign and addressed four rallies in Haryana, attacking the Congress over several issues. He said the Congress kept every matter important for the country entangled, including the Ram temple issue. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also addressed several rallies in Haryana, during which he said a “Congress storm” is on its way in Haryana and his party would form the government.

Here are the Live Updates on Haryana Elections 2024:

New Delhi:

The Congress late Wednesday night released a list of five candidates for the Haryana Assembly elections. Earlier in the day, the party announced its candidates for 40 seats.

The party has named former Haryana Youth Congress chief Sachin Kundu as its candidate for the Panipat Rural seat, and state youth wing’s spokesperson Rohit Nagar as its candidate for Tigaon.

Besides them, the Congress named Parimal Pari for the Ambala Cantt seat, Satbir Dublain for the Narwana-SC reserved seat, and Sarva Mitra Kamboj for Rania.

This was Congress’ fourth list for Haryana and so far, it has declared the names of 85 candidates for elections to the 90-member Assembly.

In the third list released earlier in the day, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Randeep Surjewala’s son Aditya was named as the party candidate for the Kaithal seat.

Other candidates named in the third list include Chander Mohan for Panchkula, Ch. Nirmal Singh (Ambala City), Akram Khan (Jagadhri), Raman Tyagi (Yamunanagar), Mandeep Singh Chatha (Pehowa), Vikas Saharan (Kalayat), Sultan Singh Jadola (Pundri), Rakesh Kumar Kamboj (Indri), Sumita Virk (Karnal), Virender Singh Rathore (Gharaunda), Varinder Kumar Shah (Panipat City), Jai Bhagwan Antil (Rai), Mahabir Gupta (Jind), Balwan Singh Daulatpuria (Fatehabad), Jarnail Singh (Ratia), Gokul Setia (Sirsa), Bharat Singh Beniwal (Ellenabad), Chander Parkash (Adampur), Rahul Makkar (Hansi), Ram Niwas Ghorela (Barwala), and Ram Niwas Rara (Hisar).

The party has named Anil Mann for Nalwa seat, Rajbir Singh Fartiya for Loharu, Sombir Singh (Badhra), Manisha Sangwan (Dadri), Anita Yadav (Ateli), Rao Narinder Singh (Narnaul), Jagdish Yadav (Kosli), Mohd Israil (Hathin), Karan Dalal (Palwal), Raghubir Tewatia (Prithla), Vijay Pratap (Badhkal), Parag Sharma (Ballabgarh), and Lakhan Kumar Singla (Faridabad).

Congress candidates named in the third list, who are contesting elections from seats reserved for Scheduled Castes, are Pradeep Narwal from Bawani Khera, M.L. Ranga (Bawal-SC), Pearl Chaudhary (Pataudi-SC), Pooja Chaudhary (Mulana-SC), and Devinder Hans (Guhla-SC).

The last date for filing nomination papers is September 12. Voting for single-phase Assembly elections will be held on October 5 while the counting will be taken up on October 8.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The BJP today released its second list of candidates for Haryana Assembly elections, adding 21 more names. So far, the party has declared 87 candidates for the 90-member assembly. The BJP has pitted Captain Yogesh Bairagi against Olympian Vinesh Phogat who is set to contest the polls on a Congress ticket from Julana. 

In the first list of 67 candidates, the party fielded Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini from Karnal to the Ladwa seat. Mr Saini served as the MP from Kurukshetra between 2019 and 2024. Prominent leaders like former state BJP president Om Prakash Dhankar, who now holds a national secretary role in the party, have been fielded from the Badli constituency. Another key figure, Anil Vij, the veteran party leader and former state minister, is set to contest from his traditional stronghold of Ambala Cantt.

Several political heavyweights who have recently switched allegiance to the BJP have been rewarded with tickets. Devender Singh Babli, formerly of the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), will now contest from Tohana, while Shruti Choudhry, a recent entrant and the granddaughter of former Haryana Chief Minister Bansi Lal, is set to run from Tosham. Similarly, Rao Inderjit Singh’s daughter, Aarti Singh Rao, has been given the Ateli seat, along with several other loyalists of the Union Minister, further cementing the party’s presence in south Haryana.

With the assembly polls scheduled for October 5, the BJP is aiming for a third consecutive victory in the state. However, the ruling party faces stiff competition from a resurgent Congress. The counting of votes is scheduled for October 8.

Northern Railway has initiated the process of accepting the resignation of wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

The Northern Railway has initiated the process of accepting the resignation of wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia, with both players expected to be relieved “as early as possible,” railway sources said on Sunday (September 8, 2024).

Both Mr. Punia and Ms. Phogat recently joined the Congress and the latter has been given a ticket to contest election from Julana assembly constituency in Haryana.

“The provision of serving three-month notice period after resigning by a railway employee will not come in the way of relieving these two players as we have decided to relax the norm in their cases,” a senior railway official told PTI.

Also Read: Vinesh Phogat and feminism in Haryana

Railways sources said both the players “will be relieved possibly today or as early as possible.” The Northern Railway (NR) had earlier issued show cause notices to them after they met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to join his party.

The NR had said the show cause notice was part of the service norm as they were government employees. Following the notice, both resigned from the Railways.

Speculation was rife that Ms. Phogat might not be able to contest elections in view of the three-month notice period norm.

According to election rules, she needs to get officially relieved from the Railways to be eligible to contest election.

“Now, since Railways has initiated her resignation acceptance process, there is no hurdle in her contesting election,” a Northern Railway official said.

Chandigarh:

The rebellion in the Haryana BJP sparked by leaders being denied tickets for the upcoming elections intensified on Saturday with a former minister joining the ranks of those who have quit the party.

Former Haryana minister Bachan Singh Arya was hoping for a ticket from the Safidon Assembly constituency but the BJP decided to field Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) rebel Ram Kumar Gautam, who had joined the party earlier this month. The JJP was a BJP ally until Nayab Singh Saini replaced Manohar Lal Khattar as the Haryana chief minister in March this year. 

The BJP had released its first list of 67 candidates on Wednesday and Mr Arya, who had lost from the Safidon Assembly constituency by a margin of about 3,500 votes in 2019, had posted a couplet on social media the next day, in which he spoke of injustice and hinted at a rebellion

“Laga do aag pani mein, shararat ho to aisi ho. Mita do hasti julmo ki, bagawat ho to aise ho. (Set fire to water, if there is mischief, let it be like this. Erase the existence of injustice, if there is a rebellion, let it be like this),” the former minister had posted. 

On Saturday, Mr Arya announced he was quitting the BJP in a terse four-line letter, stating that he was resigning from the primary membership of the party and the state executive.

Mr Arya’s resignation follows the exit of two Haryana ministers – Energy Minister Ranjit Singh Chautala and Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Social Justice Bishamber Singh Valmiki – and MLA Lakshman Napa, who were denied tickets. Key OBC leader Karan Dev Kamboj also resigned from all posts in the BJP for the same reason.

While Mr Chautala announced that he would contest as an Independent, Mr Napa said he would join the Congress.

The loss of Mr Chautala, 79, can hurt the party as he is the son of Chaudhary Devi Lal, one of Haryana’s tallest leaders, who served as chief minister twice and was also a deputy prime minister.

“I am Chaudhary Devi Lal’s son. I have some stature… I have decided to contest as an Independent,” Mr Chautala had said on Thursday.

Some of the leaders also alleged that loyalists were not being valued by the BJP.

“Perhaps the BJP does not need loyalists anymore,” Mr Kamboj had said, adding that the party was rewarding leaders who had joined recently while ignoring those who had served it for years. 

‘No Scope For Change’

Amid the rebellion, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini had said on Friday that speculation over changing candidates should end as there was no scope for doing so.  “Everyone wants a ticket, but the ‘lotus’ (BJP’s symbol) can be given to only one person… It is natural for ticket-seekers to get angry. But they will be persuaded,” he said.

The BJP, which has ruled Haryana since 2014, faces a stiffer challenge this time because it lost five of the state’s 10 Lok Sabha seats to the Congress this year after sweeping all of them in 2019. The protests by farmers – who are seeking a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP) – last year’s agitation by wrestlers, and concerns over the Agnipath scheme for recruitment in the Army are seen as posing challenges to the party in the state. 

Congress Jolted Too

The Congress, which got a boost after inducting wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia into the party on Friday, also got a jolt on Saturday – just a day after releasing its first list of 32 candidates for the Haryana polls. Senior leader Rajesh Joon resigned from the Congress and decided to contest as an Independent candidate after being denied a ticket from Bahadurgarh, where the party decided to retain sitting MLA Rajinder Singh Joon. 

“The Congress leadership cheated me. I was promised a ticket but the promise was not kept. I will become an MLA by polling double the number of votes that the Congress candidate gets,” Mr Joon said. 

In the Baroda Assembly constituency, Congress leader Kapoor Singh Narwal said he was promised a ticket by Mr Hooda, but it was given to Induraj Singh Narwal.

“They have cheated the people of the constituency, not me. I will take a call on contesting as an Independent tomorrow (Sunday),” Kapoor Singh Narwal said, even as sources close to him indicated he could leave the party.

New Delhi:

In response to Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia’s decision to join Congress, Haryana BJP president Mohan Lal Badoli said that players are the pride of our country and that the party does not do politics on them.

“Players are the pride of our country, we don’t do politics on them. They will work as a member of Congress after joining,” the Haryana BJP president told the news agency ANI on Friday.

#WATCH | Delhi: Haryana BJP president Mohan Lal Badoli said, “…We will announce the next list for the Haryana Assembly elections soon…”

On Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia joining Congress, Haryana BJP president Mohan Lal Badoli said, “Players are the pride of our country, we… pic.twitter.com/wOoBvYN5I7

— ANI (@ANI) September 6, 2024

In a big boost ahead of the Haryana Assembly elections, Olympian wrestlers Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat joined the Congress on Friday.

Within hours of his joining the party, Bajrang Punia was appointed working president of the All India Kisan Congress, while Vinesh Phogat was announced as a candidate from the Julana Assembly constituency.

Mr Punia and Ms Phogat joined the Congress in the presence of Congress general secretary KC Venugopal, party leader Pawan Khera, Udai Bhan, and AICC incharge of Haryana Deepak Babaria.

Vinesh Phogat recalled women wrestlers’ fight over sexual harassment allegations against former BJP MP and former WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. “The fight is continuing, it hasn’t ended yet. It’s in court. We will win that fight as well… With the new platform that we are getting today, we will work for the service of the nation,” she said.

The two well-known wrestlers joined the Congress almost a month before the Haryana assembly polls.

Mr Punia won bronze at the Tokyo Olympics, while Vinesh Phogat became the first woman wrestler to reach the Olympics final.

Ms Phogat announced her retirement from wrestling a short while after she was disqualified from the Paris Olympic Games after being found overweight by about 100 gm in her 50-kg category weigh-in ahead of the gold medal match.

Voting for the 90-member legislative assembly in Haryana will be held on October 5, with the last date for filing nominations being September 12. Votes will be counted on October 8.