The Jannayak Janata Party’s (JJP) decision to contest all ten Lok Sabha constituencies in Haryana independently, following the rupture of ties with the BJP, sets the stage for a high-stakes battle in the Bhiwani-Mahendragarh Lok Sabha constituency. With multiple contenders vying for victory, the electoral landscape is poised for a four-cornered contest in this crucial constituency.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has reaffirmed its faith in incumbent MP Dharambir Singh by nominating him once again for the Bhiwani-Mahendragarh seat. This marks Singh’s third consecutive Lok Sabha election as the BJP candidate, having emerged victorious in both the 2014 and 2019 polls.
On the other hand, the Congress is facing an intra-party contest ahead of the Lok Sabha nominations on Bhiwani-Mahendragarh seat. Tosham MLA and senior Congress leader Kiran Choudhary has been staking the claim to the party ticket for her daughter and former MP Shruti Choudhary for the third time. Shruti, granddaughter of former Chief Minister Bansi Lal, had won the first Lok Sabha election held in 2009 by defeating Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) candidate Ajay Singh Chautala (now JJP supremo). She had lost to BJP’s Dharambir in 2014 and 2019. Shruti is facing a challenge from Congress MLA from Mahendragarh Rao Daan Singh.
Recently, senior INLD leader and general secretary Abhay Singh Chautala also announced that his party will field its candidates in all 10 constituencies of the State.
Bhiwani-Mahendragarh Lok Sabha constituency, one of the biggest constituencies of Haryana in terms of area, had come into existence in 2008 as a part of the implementation of the recommendations of the Delimitation Commission of India constituted in 2002. The delimitation process had led to the inclusion of Ahirwal voters in this constituency changing the caste equation in the electoral contest that was earlier restricted to Jat candidates only.
The constituency has been divided into three districts — Bhiwani, Mahendragarh and Charkhi Dadri. There are four assembly segments in Mahendragarh district being dominated by people of Ahir community, Bhiwani has three and Charkhi Dadri has two assembly segments, each being dominated by the Jats.
For the last several decades, Haryana politics has been under the domination of Jats – an agrarian community that makes up the single largest community in the State at around 25 percent of the total population. But Bhiwani-Mahendragarh parliamentary seat is a complex one and the voters’ mood differs in different parts of the constituency. The sentiment of voters in Mahendragarh — dominated by Ahirs — is a little different from Bhiwani and Charkhi Dadri districts where Jats are in majority.
Furthermore, in terms of caste equation, the Bhiwani-Mahendragarh constituency has the highest number of Jats, with around 3,60,000 voters. The second highest are the Yadav (Ahir) voters, amounting to approximately 2,60,000. Additionally, there are also 1,34,000 Brahmin voters followed by Gurjars, Mahajans and Punjabis and Musilms.
Political analysts opine that the caste factor always plays a major role in elections in Haryana as all the political parties field their candidates based on caste questions instead of talking about development.
The pace of development in this region is relatively slow, and development criteria vary across assembly constituencies. Despite getting the status, Dadri district is still crying for basic amenities. Locals have to go either to Rohtak or Bhiwani in most of the cases due to inadequate healthcare facilities in government health centres. Dirty water gets accumulated on roads due to improper drainage. Few days ago, a social panchayat at Lohani village in the district threatened to boycott polling in 2024 elections over the perennial problem of potable water shortage in the village. They have also been demanding the establishment of a Police Station in their village.
Though local issues like completion of projects like construction of Mini-secretariat, University, Medical College, and judicial complex are yet to be resolved, the image of candidates and caste equations will play a role in the ensuing elections.
Additionally, political analysts opine that this Lok Sabha election seems to be a battle for survival for the INLD and its breakaway faction JJP which is facing the ire of its core voters for its “anti-farmer” stance during the year-long stir against the Centre’s now-withdrawn farm laws.
BJP – in its search for an effective strategy to counter the Congress and INLD – long ago decided that it was better to try to unify the non-Jat groups behind itself. This was partly made easy because of the traditional bias in BJP’s vote base towards urban and upper-caste groups, they added.
Notably, Bhiwani and Mahendragarh were two separate Lok Sabha seats. In the first election in the old Bhiwani seat in 1977, Chandrawati of Janata Party defeated Congress stalwart Bansi Lal. However, in 1980 and 1984, Congress’ Bansi Lal continuously registered victories. In 1999, INLD’s Ajay Chautala and in 2004, Congress’ Kuldeep Bishnoi won from here. In 2019 polls, BJP’s Dharambir Singh won the seat.
The Bhiwani-Mahendragarh constituency has nine assembly segments that fall in three districts Bhiwani, Mahendragarh and Charkhi Dadri. As per 2019 Vidhan Sabha election, of nine, the BJP has five seats –Nangal Chaudhry, Narnaul, Ateli, Bhiwani and Loharu in its kitty and the JJP has one seat in Badhra. The Congress has two seats in Tosham and Mahendragarh. One independent candidate had won the election in Dadri.
Dharambir, Bansi Lal Clan Political Rivals
BJP’s candidate Dharambir Singh is an arch rival of clan of former Chief Minister late Bansi Lal as he has contested Assembly and Lok Sabha elections against his three generations — Bansi Lal, his son Surendra Singh, and granddaughter Shruti Choudhary. Though the Congress has not yet officially declared its nominee for the constituency, sources in the party said that Shruti Choudhry is likely to get the party ticket.
Dharambir, who had earlier associated with the Janata Dal, Congress, had joined BJP after resigning from assembly membership from Sohna (Gurugram) just before the Lok Sabha elections in 2014. He had contested the Lok Sabha election on the BJP ticket and defeated Shruti Choudhry.
A four-time legislator and a Minister in the Devi Lal Government, Dharambir had first time jumped into the fray on the Lok Dal ticket from Tosham against the then heavyweight Congress leader Bansi Lal in 1987 assembly elections. The election result was contested in court after violence erupted during the counting of votes. Though Dharambir won with a margin of 2,186 votes, he was unseated by the high court which set aside the election too.
Both leaders again contested the Lok Sabha election against each other from Bhiwani in 1989. Bansi Lal registered a victory over Dharambir with a comfortable margin. The Assembly elections in 1991 witnessed another poll battle between the two and Bansi Lal again defeated Dharambir from Tosham. Though Dharambir lost successive elections, he did not give up and again challenged Bansi Lal from Tosham in the Assembly poll in 1996. But again, he failed to win.
In 1999 Lok Sabha elections, Dharambir contested against Bansil Lal’s son Surender Singh (of the Haryana Vikas party) from Bhiwani on Congress ticket but none of them succeeded. INLD candidate Ajay Chautala romped home while Dharambir and Surender remained second and third, respectively.
In the 2000 Assembly poll, Dharambir managed to win by defeating Surender from Tosham. Thereafter, he did not lose any election and successfully contested two Assembly poll from Badhra (Bhiwani) in 2005 and Sohna (Gurugram) in 2009 on the Congress ticket and two Lok Sabha elections on the BJP ticket from Bhiwani-Mahendragarh seat in 2014 and 2019.
