Reacting to the outcome of Baroda by-poll, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday said that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nominee wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt secured more votes than the previous election in 2019.
Talking to reporters in Chandigarh, Khattar said, if all the votes of Jananayak Janata Party (JJP) had been transferred, then BJP candidate would have got more than 80,000 votes. “The Baroda voters have given the party more love and affection than the previous elections. In the bypoll, the BJP candidate secured more than 50,000 votes,” he said.
Asked whether the defeat was due to the anger of the farmers over the central farm laws, Khattar said, “Had there been an impact, then our number of votes would have decreased. The results of Baroda bypoll have nothing to do with the Central farm legislations. Everybody knows it was the Congress party's lie. These laws are in favour of farmers.”
He further said that during the election campaign, opposition parties challenged BJP leaders to come to the villages of Baroda.
According to them, farmers would not allow BJP leaders entering villages but when the leaders of BJP and JJP went to campaign, nothing happened. Central farm law was not an issue in the election. “We contested this election with the slogan of a corruption-free system and development,” he added.
Khattar alleged that Opposition parties were spreading misinformation regarding central farm laws but could not be succeeded.
The Chief Minister further said that it is not necessary that every time there will be transfer of coalition partner’s vote in the election. But there are definitely some benefits for the party. In this election, it has reflected that BJP candidate has got more votes this time than last election. Congress candidate has lost around 6000 votes. We thank our party leaders and workers for this.”
On the victory of NDA in Bihar Assembly elections, Khattar said that once again the people have stamped on the development and ideology of NDA. BJP has also done well in the by-polls in all remaining States, he added.