Jind, January 31: Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) camp is jubilant with the victory of its candidate Krishan Lal Middha in the Jind bypoll, it is Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) candidate Digvijay Singh Chautala’s losing to him by 12,900 votes that calls for a real celebration.
Middha polled a total of 50,566 votes in his favour, while Janta Jannayak Party’s Digvijay Singh Chautala secured a whopping 37,631 votes, leaving Congress’ Randeep Singh Surjewala at the third spot with 22,740 votes. Considering that the JJP is barely a few months old and has been formed by defectors from age-old Indian National Lok Dal, the swing of Jind’s voters in favour of Digvijay means it is a real threat – one that can’t be ignored at all.
Nonetheless, for the BJP it is a true victory as it has never ever won Jind. This is the first time that the voters have picked BJP’s candidate Krishan Lal Middha, even though he is being seen as riding the popularity of his father, the sitting MLA Dr Harichand Middha whose death necessitated the by-election.
Congress national spokesman Randeep Surjewala, who was fielded as a strong candidate despite being a sitting legislator, trailed at the third position with less than 10,000 votes after six rounds. His losing the elections could well be a result of infighting in the state Congress, with majority of MLAs rallying behind Bhupinder Singh Hooda to see him as the state unit chief and to be projected as the chief ministerial candidate in the Assembly elections later this year.
It’s major setback for Leader of Opposition, Abhay Chautala, who is looking after organisational structure of Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) in absence of his father Om Prakash Chautala, who is currently lodged in Tihar jail. The bypoll result has proven that Abhay’s nephew Dushyant Chautala’s outfit JJP has attracted a large support base of the INLD. It will be no surprise, if more INLD leaders move to the JJP after the bypoll results.
”I would like to thank everyone who supported the party and me. It’s their victory. There were big leaders in the contest as well, but we have defeated them too. We will follow the schemes launched by PM and take them forward,” Middha said after being officially declared the winner in the crucial Jind byelection.
Vinod Ashri, the Loktantar Suraksha Party (LSP) candidate, launched by rebel BJP MP Raj Kumar Saini, made an impressive beginning as it got over 7,700 votes to be in the fourth position.
Sitting party INLD’s candidate Umaid Singh Rehru lost his security deposit.
Meanwhile, clashes were reported in Jind after the bypoll results were officially declared by the election officials.
The Haryana Police and paramilitary forces used canes to disperse protesters during a demonstration in Jind town during the counting of votes for the Jind Assembly seat by-election.
Also Read: Krishan Lal Middha of BJP wins Jind bypoll with huge margin
Protesters belonging to the newly launched Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) held the protests while alleging that the electronic voting machines (EVMs) had been tampered with.
As per reports, the serial numbers of two EVMs did not match with the list and this was objected to by one of the contesting candidates inside the counting centre.
As the news reached the activists of various parties, the protest started in Jind town, around 190 km from here, following which the police was forced to take action to disperse them.
Police officials said the protests took place around 300 metres from the counting centre and did not affect the counting process. The counting process was stopped for some time after the complaint regarding the EVMs but it was resumed later.
In a bypoll being held in the last year of the state government, the outcome can be seen as a precursor to the ensuing Lok Sabha elections.
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