Haryana poll sets up for BJP & Congress faceoff
Image credit X.com @BhupinderSHooda
Congress upbeat with Haryana Assembly elections
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, August 31: The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are bracing up for a faceoff in the Haryana Assembly elections. The Election Commission on Saturday changed the polling date for Haryana.
The Election Commission on Saturday said that the single-phase poll for Haryana will now be held on October 5. The EC had earlier announced October 1 as the poll date for Haryana.
Bracing for one-on-one contest, both the BJP and the Congress are making determined efforts to hold on to the electoral in the Jat turf. The political pundits often claim that the BJP gains upper hand when facing directly the challenge from the Congress.
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The BJP had won the Assembly elections hands down in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Chhatisgarh, and Rajasthan. The BJP and the Congress had faced each other in all these states.
But the political wind is lately changing. The Congress won the Himachal Pradesh state poll in a direct contest with the BJP.
The Congress also trounced the BJP in an almost direct contest in the Karnataka Assembly elections. The Congress also emerged victorious in the Telangana Assembly elections.
The political pundits opine that the Congress is on a comeback trail. This was seen in the Lok Sabha elections in which the Congress won five out of the total 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana.
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But the BJP and the Congress both are cautious while approaching the Haryana Assembly elections. The BJP appears nervous at the prospects of the anti-incumbency factor.
The Congress is wary of the faction-fighting in the party ranks in Haryana. Besides, the smaller outfits threaten to play the spoiler for both the national parties.
The Jat versus non-Jat issue is dominating in Haryana. Haryana has about 23 per cent Jat electorate. Jats are said to have influence on about 35 Assembly constituencies.
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The percentage of Dalit electorate is also 23 per cent. The BJP had wrested power in Haryana in 2014 by cashing in on non-Jat vote base.
The BJP will once more be banking on its tested electoral social engineering. However, there is strain within the non-Jat vote base for the BJP.
The BJP is yet to recover from anti-incumbency. The infighting in the Congress is at its peak.
Farmers are still angry with the government. Protests against the government are going on at the Haryana border.
At the same time, three camps are active in the Congress. Former Chief Minister Bhupendra Singh Hooda, the party’s general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala, and former Union Minister Kumari Shailja.
The Congress is yet to tame the faction-fighting in the party ranks in Haryana. The Congress fears that infighting can cost the party dearly in the elections.
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The political pundits claim that the Congress is maintaining lead over the BJP in the pre-poll surveys. The JJP leader Dushyant Chautala played a very important role in forming the BJP government last time.
But Chautala is now politically on a weak wicket. A number of his associates, including MLAs, have deserted him ahead of the state poll.
The INLD is contesting the elections in an alliance with the BSP. The Aam Aadmi Party is contesting the elections alone.
The votes of these parties will also play an important role in the victory or defeat of the BJP and the Congress.
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