INLD’S strong comeback on home turf Sirsa

ROHTAK: The Indian National Lok Dal’s (INLD) impressive win on 10 zila parishad seats in its patriarch OP Chautala’s home district Sirsa has come as a boost for the party, which has been witnessing a dry spell after it was completely wiped out in Haryana in the 2019 assembly elections. The results for the zila parishad polls were announced on Sunday. INLD contested on a total 72 seats in the state and won 13 seats, of which 10 were in Sirsa district. The INLD camp is jubilant with the party’s performance as it polled a total of 1,30,122 votes on 23 seats it contested with a winning percentage of 43% in the district.

MLA Abhay Singh Chautala’s elder son Karan Chautala won by 625 votes from ward 6, which falls in Rania constituency, dominated by his granduncle Ranjit Singh Chautala, who is power minister in the BJP-JJP alliance government in the state.

The results have come as a shot in the arm for the party, which suffered a rout in the 2019 state polls after its split following a family feud in 2018. Ajay Chautala

along with his son Dushyant, who is the deputy chief minister, had split from the party, to form Jannayak Janta Party (JJP).

INLD could win only one assembly seat in the 2019 state polls, while it had 19 members in the assembly in the 2014 elections. Commenting on INLD’S win in zila parishad polls in Sirsa, party’s state chief Nafe Singh Rathee said their party will form its chairman in Sirsa.

“The zila parishad poll results proved that people have deep anger against the BJP-JJP alliance. The JJP did not field its candidates on symbols with a fear of defeat, while the BJP lost all 10 seats in Sirsa. The voters of Sirsa have proved that they have faith in OP Chautala and his INLD. We have started preparing for the 2024 parliamentary polls and surely, we will win the Sirsa Lok Sabha. This win is a morale booster for our cadre. INLD has shown its strength in Ellenabad by-poll and now in zila parishad polls in Sirsa,” he said.

Rohtak-based political commentator Satish Tyagi said, “the INLD, which was completely missing from Haryana’s politics at least showed its strong presence in Chautala’s bastion Sirsa.”