In Haryana Assembly polls, the voters of the State not just sprang a surprise by delivering a fractured mandate but also, preferred ‘None of the above’ (NOTA) option over many regional parties.
While both the national parties—Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress—failed to get a clear majority, the regional players except the Jannayak Janta Party had a dismal outing in the State Assembly polls.
The voting held on October 21 had seen 68.31 percent of the total eligible 1.83 crore electors coming out their homes to cast their vote in Haryana. This lowest voter turnout in the last three decades and a sharp decline in polling percentage from 76.54 in 2014 Assembly polls, had already indicated a strong voter sentiment against the BJP, which came to power on its own for the first time in Haryana in 2014.
Apart from national parties—BJP and Congress, the regional players in the fray were Indian National Lok Dal-Shiromani Akali Dal alliance, JJP, Aam Aadmi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Loktantra Suraksha Party (LSP) and Swaraj India.
Both BJP and Congress saw increase in their vote share this time as compared to previous 2014 Assembly polls even though none of the two could secure a clear majority in the 90-member Haryana Assembly.
The Congress put up a resurgent performance, winning 31 seats as compared to 15 in 2014 and recording a vote share of 28.08, an increase from 20.58 in last Assembly polls. The BJP, which witnessed decline in its tally of 47 in 2014 to 40 seats this time, managed to secure the highest vote share of 36.47 percent, more than it had recorded in 2014 i.e. 33.20 percent.
For the saffron party, there is continuous upward trend in its vote share in Haryana. The BJP’s vote share was just 9.05 percent in 2009, 10.36 percent in 2005, 8.94 percent in 2000 and 8.88 percent in 1996 State Assembly polls.
On the other hand, the Congress had recorded a vote share of 35.11 percent in 2009 assembly polls and a high 42.46 percent vote percentage in 2005 polls.
Meanwhile, the regional political parties again failed to impress the voters after their poor performance in Lok Sabha polls held earlier this year.
Once known as a main regional player, the INLD witnessed dismal 2.45 percent vote share, a huge decline from 24.75 percent in 2014. The party was decimated in the polls with only Abhay Chautala, younger son of INLD’s chief OP Chautala recording a victory from his Ellenabad assembly seat.
The split in the party and formation of its splinter group—JJP has pushed the INLD into the political oblivion.
For the INLD, there is a continuous downfall in vote share from 2000 assembly polls. It recorded 29.61 percent vote share in 2000, 26.77 percent in 2005, 25.81 percent in 2009 and 24.73 percent in 2014. Also in 2019 Lok Sabha polls where the party failed to open its account, its vote share had declined to dismal 1.89 percent from 24.4 per cent in 2014.
The BJP had won all 10 parliamentary seats in Haryana during the Lok Sabha polls 2019.
Among regional parties, JJP, AAP, LSP and Swaraj Party had contested the State Assembly polls for the first time in Haryana. However, BSP, AAP, LSP and Swaraj Party-- had not contested on all 90 seats.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal led AAP was polled just 0.48 percent votes, lesser than NOTA, which recorded 0.52 percent vote share (65672 votes). The AAP had fielded 48 candidates and all of them failed to make an impression on the voters. AAP’s state president Naveen Jaihind did not contest the election.
In 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the AAP’s vote share had declined to 0.4 percent from 4.2 percent in 2014 parliamentary polls on 10 seats of Haryana.
Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati’s BSP recorded 4.14 percent vote share, a marginal decline from 4.52 percent in 2014. The party failed to win even a single seat this time while it had won one seat each in past four assembly polls. Its vote share had declined to 4.52 percent in 2014 from 6.74 in 2009 assembly elections. The BSP’s vote share was 5.44 in 1996, 5.74 in 2000 and 3.22 in 2005.
Likewise, the LSP of former BJP MP Raj Kumar Saini fared poorly and failed to open its account while it contested on more than 70 assembly seats. Saini himself lost the election from Gohana assembly seat against Jagbir Singh Malik of Congresss.
SAD, which contested polls in an alliance with INLD on two seats recorded voter percentage of 0.38, a decline from 0.62 percent in 2014.
Social scientist Yogendra Yadav led Swaraj India Party also lost on all 27 seats it had contested in the polls.
However, former MP Dushyant Chautala led JJP, which was contesting the assembly polls for the first time recorded a vote share of 15.3 percent, with 10 assembly seats in its kitty. The JJP, which has emerged as a key regional player in Haryana politics, appeared to have swayed the INLD’s core vote bank— Jats.
The JJP not only secured victory on 10 seats but its candidates also managed to defeat BJP’s heavyweight candidates namely state BJP chief Subhash Barala, Cabinet Minister Capt. Abhimanyu, Parminder Singh Dhull, Krishan Kumar Bedi and Prem Lata, wife of former Union Minister Birender Singh.
Another surprise in the poll result was election of former Minister Gopal Kanda from Sirsa assembly seat. Gopal Kanda, the lone elected MLA of the Haryana Lokhit Party, which he had founded with his brother Govind Kanda in May 2014 was seen as a major player in the formation of next government in Haryana.
NOTA vote share increased
The vote share of ‘None of the Above’ (NOTA) option was recorded 0.52 percent (65672 votes) this time, an increase from 0.4 percent in 2014 Haryana assembly polls.
NOTA option enables the voters to officially register a vote of rejection for all candidates who are contesting. The main objective of the ‘NOTA’ option was to enable electors who do not wish to vote for any of the candidates to atleast exercise their right to vote.
The Badhkal assembly seat, from where BJP’s Seema Trikha won against Congress’ Vijay Pratap Singh by a margin of 2545 votes saw 2274 voters (1.68 percent) choosing NOTA option. The Badhkal assembly constituency recorded highest NOTA votes in the state.
In Chief Minister Manohar Lal’s constituency Karnal, 1956 people choose NOTA option.
1754 voters opted for NOTA in Faridabad seat, which elected BJP candidate Narender Gupta.
1729 voters opted for NOTA in Panipat city assembly constituency, from where BJP’s Parmod Kumar Vij won by a huge margin against his closest rival Sanjay Aggarwal of Congress.
In Tigaon seat, 1569 voters choose NOTA while BJP’s Rajesh Nagar emerged as a winner and 1512 voters pressed NOTA option in Ballabhgarh, from where BJP’s Mool Chand Sharma was re-nominated.
Apart from this, 1654 voted for NOTA in Badshahpur seat and 1523 in Hisar constituency,
Similarly in Dabwali constituency, where Congress candidate Amit Sihag defeated BJP’s Aditya Lal, 1477 electors pressed NOTA on the EVMs.
Notably, this time, Haryana had recorded a low voter turnout of 68.31 per cent. Of the total voters exercising their right to franchise, 69.36 per cent were men and 67.12 per cent were women on the polling day i.e. October 21.