Jannayak Janta Party leader and former MP Dushyant Chautala on Sunday unveiled his party’s new election symbol “key”.
The new symbol was released at party’s executive committee meeting held in Rohtak. After the JJP tasted defeat contesting its maiden Lok Sabha polls, the party had decided to give up the symbol of slippers (chappals) and apply for a new one.
Former Hisar MP, Dushyant Chautala said that the previous symbol- slippers -was not clearly visible on Electronic Voting Machines during Lok Sabha polls and many supporters had complained about this.
The JJP will now contest the upcoming Haryana Assembly polls on a new symbol – “key”, he said.
Dushyant, who had unsuccessfully contested from Hisar constituency in Lok Sabha polls said that the BJP will not be benefitted from Modi factor in Haryana Assembly polls. We should gear up for the assembly elections to reach out to the voters of the state, he told the party workers.
Notably, the Indian National Lok Dal, launched by former deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal had split last year and its splinter group -JJP was formed.
Like INLD, the JJP had also faced humiliating defeat in the parliamentary elections. Contesting the polls in an alliance with Aam Aadmi Party of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the JJP fought on seven seats leaving three for AAP.
Except JJP leader Dushyant Chautala who finished at second place in Hisar Lok Sabha seat, all JJP-AAP candidates had lost their security deposits. Both alliance partners fared poorly as the JJP secured around 5 per cent of the vote share while AAP managed a merely 0.4 per cent.
The alliance with JJP did not work well for the AAP in 2019 general elections as its vote share declined to 0.4 percent from 4.2 percent in 2014.
JJP leader Dushyant Chautala who saw himself as a future Chief Minister, had lost his Hisar Lok Sabha seat to BJP’s Brijendra Singh by more than 3.1 lakh votes. Dushyant’s brother, Digvijay Chautala, also of the JJP, fared far worse, finishing a distant third in Sonipat Lok Sabha seat after getting a mere 4.53 per cent of the votes.