Ambala Lok Sabha constituency is one of the two reserved constituencies out of total 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana.
Rural voters form the major chunk in this constituency, where the BJP and the Congress have dominated the political scene.
BJP’s Rattan Lal Kataria had won the Ambala Lok Sabha seat in 2014 general election defeating his nearest rival Congress’ Raj Kumar Balmiki by a margin of 3.4 lakh voters. Indian National Lok Dal’s nominee Dr Kusum Sherwat had finished at third spot while Dr Kapoor Singh of Bahujan Samaj Party was at fourth place.
The Ambala parliamentary seat has either been won by the Congress or the BJP except on one occasion when the BSP candidate Aman Kumar Nagra had registered victory from the seat in 1998.
According to the political experts, the Modi wave worked for Rattan Lal Kataria in Ambala parliamentary seat. The nomination of two-time former Congress MP and former Union Minister Kumari Selja to the Rajya Sabha had also given a shot in the arm to the BJP from the Ambala seat. In her absence in 2014, the electoral contest for the BJP was not very tough on the Ambala seat, resulting in a comfortable victory for Kataria against the Congress’ rival.
Selja, a known dalit face in Haryana had represented Ambala Lok Sabha seat for two consecutive terms in 2004 and 2009 but she choose the upper house route to reach the Parliament in 2014. Selja had earlier also represented Sirsa parliamentary constituency twice.
She is a known detractor of two-time former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and the Congress’ defeat in 2014 on Ambala parliamentary seat had led to a bitter infighting within the faction-ridden State party unit.
Not only the defeated Congress’ nominee Raj Kumar Valmiki blamed former MP Kumari Selja and her lobby of a few party leaders for poor performance in the Lok Sabha elections but also accused her of abandoning the constituency during her ten-year tenure.
The Ambala constituency comprises nine Assembly segments and is spread over three districts of Ambala, Panchkula and Yamunanagar. The segments which form a part of the Ambala Lok Sabha seat include Ambala City, Ambala Cantt, Kalka, Panchkula, Naraingarh, Mulana (SC), Sadhaura (SC), Jagadhri and Yamunanagar.
Rattan Lal Kataria, BJP’s prominent dalit face in Ambala, had led in all Assembly segments to register his comfortable victory in 2014 general elections. He was polled 50.22 percent votes followed by Congress’ candidate with 22.34 vote percentage and INLD’s candidate 10.63 percent votes.
Kataria, a BJP veteran was earlier elected from the Ambala constituency in 1999 defeating, the Congress candidate, Phool Chand Mullana, and the then Haryana BSP chief, Aman Kumar Nagra. Nagra had defeated BJP’s Suraj Bhan in the November 1998 election.
As per the Election Commission data, the Lok Sabha seat has over 17.70 lakh voters. Dalits and OBCs jointly constitute over 35 percent of Ambala’s electorate.
While BJP’s Kataria managed to win the Ambala seat in last general election, the upcoming Lok Sabha polls would not be a cakewalk for him, in case he manages to get a party ticket.
Kataria has faced flak for keeping away from parts of Ambala constituency during his tenure. Anil Vij, MLA from Ambala Cantt and Health Minister in Haryana Cabinet had also traded allegations on Kataria stating the he is a ‘Gumshuda’ (missing) MP, who is not available for party workers.
Last year, Kataria’s missing posters were also put up by rival political parties in some parts of the constituency. The Ambala MP, however, has denied the charges and claim to have worked for overall development of his constituency.
Apart from facing its arch rivals, Congress and INLD in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, the BJP will also contest against the Shiromani Akal Dal, its alliance partner in Punjab.
SAD’s president Sukhbir Badal has already announced that his party would go it alone in Haryana and would contest all 10 parliamentary and 90 Assembly seats in the state. The SAD will sound the poll bugle in Haryana by holding a rally at Ambala on February 9.
Earlier, the SAD had an alliance with the INLD in Haryana. The INLD had, however snapped ties with the SAD in Haryana over the issue of construction of Sutlej Yamuna Link canal.
Winners
2014-Incumbent: Rattan Lal Kataria (BJP)
2009-2014: Kumari Selja (Congress)
2004-2009: Kumari Selja (Congress)
1999-2004:Rattan Lal Kataria (BJP)
1998-99:Aman Kumar Nagra (Bahujan Samaj Party)