Chandigarh: With Congress falling short of
majority in the 90-member Haryana Assembly, many of its
stalwarts had to bite dust at the hustings, but the win by
leaders like Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Kiran
Choudhry saved the day for the party.
Senior leader and Haryana's Finance Minister Birender
Singh loss from Uchana Kalan in Jind was unexpected, as he
lost to former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, whose INLD
made a strong comeback in the assembly polls.
Five time legislator Birender Singh lost to Chautala by a
narrow margin of 621 votes.
64-year-old Singh, who spared no opportunity to train his
guns on 74-year-old Chautala both inside and outside the floor
of the Assembly, had always looked sure of victory from his
hometurf, with development remaining his main poll plank,
but luck did click for him today.
Another loss for the ruling Congress was that of
party unit's state chief Phool Chand Mullana at the hustings,
who was defeated by INLD's Rajbir Brara from Mullana reserved
constituency in Ambala district.
Another senior leader of the Congress who fell short of
victory was Transport and Education Minister Mange Ram Gupta,
who lost to INLD's Dr Hari Chand Middha from Jind assembly
constituency.
The voters also showed exit door to Haryana Ministers LD
Arora (Sirsa) and A C Chaudhry (Faridabad NIT).
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda retained his Garhi
Sampla-Kiloi seat in Rohtak district with a huge margin of
72,100 votes.
Sampat Singh (Nalwa), Ajay Yadav (Rewari), Savitri Jindal
(Hisar), Randeep Singh Surjewala (Kaithal), HS Chatha (Pehowa)
and Raghubir Singh Kadian (Beri) were among other key winners
from the Congress camp.
With Haryana throwing up a fractured verdict, sons of
former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal and Om Prakash Chautala also
registered the win at the hustings.
While Chautala himself won from Uchana Kalan and
Ellenabad seats, his elder son and INLD Secretary General,
Ajay Chautala would enter the state Assembly for the first
time after his won from Dabwali seat.
Haryana Janhit Congress chief Kuldeep Bishnoi, younger
son of Bhajan Lal, will also be making his debut in the
Assembly representing the Adampur constituency.
State BJP chief Krishan Pal Gujjar won from the Tigaon
assembly seat.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, October 22, 2009, 23:11