The Adampur bypoll in Haryana, scheduled for November 3, will test the political skills of Congress rebel-turned- BJP leader Kuldeep Bishnoi and whether he has hold on the people of the area or not after deserting his parent party. Bishnoi or his son could be declared the BJP nominee to contest the by-poll.
The bypoll was necessitated following the resignation of Bishnoi from the Haryana assembly as an MLA. A four-time MLA from Adampur and a two-time MP from Bhiwani and Hisar, Bishnoi was expelled by the Congress from all party positions for cross-voting in the June Rajya Sabha polls. Later, Bishnoi left the Congress and joined the BJP. The Adampur seat is considered to be a stronghold of Bishnoi.
The Election Commission of India on Monday announced bypolls in Adampur where election would be held on November 3. “The wait is finally over. I welcome the Adampur bypoll. Once again, Adampur will fight against the opponents and as always, Adampur will win,” Bishnoi tweeted after the ECI announcement.
The Bishnoi family has been representing the seat since 1968. While Bishnoi’s father Bhajan Lal won the seat from 1968 to 2000, Bishnoi won it in 2005, 2009, 2014 and 2019; and his wife Renuka won the 2012 bypoll from Adampur. In 2014, Bishnoi got 56,757 votes (47.1 per cent) contesting as a candidate from his party, Haryana Janhit Congress (Bhajan Lal). In 2019, he contested as a Congress nominee and got 63,693 votes (51.7 per cent).
While the Aam Aadmi Party has announced it would contest all 90 Assembly constituencies of Haryana in 2024, it has not yet confirmed if it will also field a candidate in Adampur. Recently, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, who was on a two-day visit to Hisar, urged people to vote for his party in the bypoll to Adampur assembly seat. Adampur will be the gateway for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to form its government in the state in 2024, he had said.
The Congress, meanwhile, has been preparing hard to ensure that the ruling BJP-JJP receives a setback and would be eager to teach Bishnoi a lesson for deserting the party. Either Bishnoi, his wife Renuka or their son Bhavya might be considered as the BJP nominee for Adampur.
Congress, on the other hand, recently claimed that a large number of Bishnoi family supporters have joined it. “Several staunch supporters of the Bishnoi family from Adampur have joined Congress. To name a few, the former head of Bishnoi Mahasabha (Hisar) Pradeep Beniwal, who is the son of Pokharmal Beniwal, and had helped Bhajan Lal’s family strengthen its hold in Adampur has joined Congress. Former Air Marshal Surender Kumar Ghotia and several other supporters of the Bhajan Lal family from Adampur have joined Congress. We shall definitely win this seat,” former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said.
If Congress wins despite the odds, it would not make much of a difference to BJP but would help the party project that winds of change have started blowing. If it loses, BJP would gain one seat and get into a more commanding position with its ally, the Dushyant Chautala-led JJP.
Currently, the 90-member Haryana Vidhan Sabha has 40 BJP MLAs, 31 MLAs from Congress, 10 from JJP, seven independents and one each from Indian National Lok Dal and Haryana Lokhit Party.