Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president JP Nadda on Monday appointed state election in-charge and co-in-charge for the upcoming Assembly elections in Haryana.
The assembly polls in Haryana are expected to be held in October or November this year. In a letter dated on June 17, BJP national general secretary and headquarters in-charge Arun Singh said that for Haryana, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has been appointed as state election in-charge while former Tripura Chief Minister and MP Biplab Kumar Deb as state election co-incharge.
In Haryana, where the BJP lost five of the 10 seats in the recently-concluded Lok Sabha polls, the saffron party has been worried about losing support from major caste groups and is eyeing the influential Jat community. Biplab, a former Tripura Chief Minister, was the in-charge of the State during Lok Sabha election.
With this announcement, the BJP has signaled its readiness for Haryana Assembly elections. Sources said that the Central high command is expected to have a meeting with the top leadership of Haryana soon. BJP in Haryana is likely to contest the assembly elections alone on all the 90 seats in the State.
In the recently-concluded Lok Sabha elections, BJP had contested on all 10 seats in the State and won on five Lok Sabha seats. BJP has been in power in Haryana since 2014. A triangular contest was witnessed in the 2019 Assembly elections. Out of total 90 Assembly seats in the State, BJP had won 40 seats while 31 by Congress. Seven were Independents, while one MLA each from the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and the HLP. The Dushyant Chautala-led Jannayak Janata Party had won 10 seats in the 2019 assembly elections. The post-poll alliance was formed after the 2019 assembly elections when the BJP fell short of a simple majority, getting 40 seats, and took support from Dushyant-led JJP to form the government.
Dushyant Chautala was made deputy Chief Minister in the Manohar Lal Khattar Government. Few weeks ahead of the Lok Sabha election-2024, BJP had broken its alliance with JJP and formed the Government with the support of independent MLAs. BJP State president Nayab Singh Saini on March 12, 2024 sworn in as the Haryana Chief Minister after Manohar Lal Khattar and his cabinet ministers resigned from their posts.
