Three years after it suffered its worst debacle in the state assembly polls, the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) finally has something to cheer about with the recently held panchayat polls giving it a glimmer of hope to claw back into the political arena of Haryana.
The elections to 411 zilla parishad wards in Haryana’s 22 districts were held recently and while BJP seems to have lost some of the ground, it is the Om Prakash Chautala-founded INLD that seems to have gained. The Congress and Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) of Dushyant Chautala did not contest on party symbols. Haryana has 22 zilla parishads comprising 411 members while there are 143 panchayat samitis, comprising 3,081 members.
While the BJP won 22 of the 102 wards that it contested on in seven districts, the INLD won 16 out of the 72 seats that it contested on and the Aam Aadmi Party won 15 in the 100 zilla parishad seats that it contested. The BJP lost out on some of its strong areas like Panchkula and Yamunanagar with INLD making major gains. INLD strongman and its leader Abhay Singh Chautala’s son Karan too won from Sirsa. The biggest gain for the party came from its stronghold Sirsa.
Speaking exclusively with News18.com, Chautala said, “The ruling party and the opposition Congress might continue to claim anything about the results but we can claim victory in areas, especially in Sirsa where our candidates have won in 10 seats out of 24. Verdict proves we are strongly connected to the grassroots.”
Chautala said like other parties they are not claiming victory on the basis of candidates backed by the party. “We are counting our numbers on the basis of people who have won from the party’s symbol,” he said. “The fact that Congress did not contest the polls in its party symbol shows that the party is still not in a position to face elections.”
Hence, the Congress does not have the right to claim that it had performed well, he said.
Chautala said his party had registered a 13 per cent vote across bettering its earlier performance in the local elections. He said that though the BJP is claiming to have won a larger number of seats, it lost from its strong areas like Yamunanagar and Panchkula.
Chautala said that the party was working to improve in its strong areas and reach out to its traditional voters and cadres. “State assembly elections are a couple of years away in Haryana and it is too early for any party whether ruling or opposition to claim confidence,” said Chautala. He said that the ground situations were changing and it would be the effort of the INLD to reach out to the disgruntled lot who are tired of the ruling alliance and the opposition Congress.
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