After the conclusion of Lok Sabha elections, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress and other opposition parties in Haryana are now gearing for another ballot-battle, the State Assembly elections due to be held in October this year.
Buoyed by its resounding victory in parliamentary polls, the BJP has now set its eyes on “Mission 70” in Haryana Assembly elections.
The BJP which had won all 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana in the general elections will kick start its “Karyakarta Abhinandan Samaroh” from June 5 in the state to express gratitude towards party workers for working diligently in the polls and to call upon them to again work hard for a victory in the State Assembly elections due to be held in next four months.
The Chief Minister Manohar Lal will be undertaking a statewide tour to thank the party cadre for BJP’s victory in Lok Sabha polls and direct the party workers to continue their exercise of reaching out to the voters ahead of the Assembly polls.
In 2014 Vidhan Sabha election, the BJP had won 47 seats in the 90-member Assembly and had managed to make its maiden State Government in Haryana on its own. Currently, the ruling BJP has 48 MLAs while principal opposition party-Congress has 17 MLAs in the State Assembly.
In recently concluded parliamentary elections, the saffron party not only won all 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana but had also maintained its lead in as many as 79 assembly constituencies out of total 90 assembly seats.
Registering a rise of three seats in its tally from last general elections 2014, the BJP had got
percent vote share (7357347) in parliamentary polls 2019, much higher than that of 34.7 per cent vote share, it had got in last general elections.
To continue its winning spree in the elections, the saffron party has now chalked out a plan to organize “Karyakarta Abhinandan Samaroh”, firstly in all districts to further boost the morale of the party cadre and issue necessary directions regarding upcoming Vidhan Sabha polls.
Such events beginning from June 5 in Panchkula and Hisar will be addressed by Chief Minister Manohar Lal.
“Elected MPs, MLAs, senior party leaders, districts party presidents, and workers will attend these events. Panna Pramukh and party workers at grass-root level will also be honoured at Karyakarta Abhinandan Samaroh beginning from June 5,” said BJP Haryana chief Subhash Barala.
The saffron party had earlier held its first brainstorming session of senior leaders in Rohtak on May 20, followed by a meeting of the BJP Legislature Party in Chandigarh the next day to draw up campaign plan for the Assembly polls.
Also, the BJP legislature party will be meeting soon to form a committee to work out the election manifesto for the polls.
On the other hand, the opposition parties-Congress, Indian National Lok Dal, Jannayak Janta Party, Aam Aadmi Party among others are preparing to bounce back after their poor showing in the Lok Sabha elections.
After the second consecutive Lok Sabha election debacle in Haryana, the state Congress leaders will meet on June 4 in New Delhi to take decisions on restructuring of party organization.
The Congress party will deliberate over the way forward and its plan for Assembly elections in its meeting, said Haryana Congress chief Ashok Tanwar.
Congress had faced a drubbing in Lok Sabha elections even after fielding its best lot of leaders including former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, his son and three-time MP Deepender Hooda, a four-time MP and former Union Minister Kumari Selja, state party chief Ashok Tanwar among others.
Even as the party’s vote share increased to 28.42 percent (3604106) this time from 22.9 percent in 2014 polls in Haryana, the Congress failed to register a victory even on a single seat.
Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said that “Modi wave” worked in favor of BJP in Haryana but in Assembly elections, issues will be different. The Vidhan Sabha elections will be fought on the failures of Manohar Lal Khattar Government in the state. The Congress party will prepare a strategy to perform well in the polls”, he said.
The regional parties including Indian National Lok Dal, its splinter group Jannayak Janta Party, Aam Aadmi Party, Loktantra Suraksha party are also still recovering from the shock after their total washout in parliamentary polls. The regional parties’ vote percentage had remained in a single digit in the elections.
INLD chief Om Parkash Chautala is currently undertaking a statewide tour to revive the party and infuse energy in party cadre ahead of Assembly polls.
OP Chautala, who is serving a 10-year jail sentence in connection with the teachers recruitment scam in Haryana, is currently out of jail on a furlough. Addressing party workers in Faridabad, Chautala on Monday expressed confidence that the party would bounce back and return to power this year in Haryana after 15 years.
INLD’s splinter group -- Jannayak Janta Party is deliberating over getting a new symbol after its defeat in the Lok Sabha polls. The JJP has convened a meeting of its central and state executive committee on June 9 to work out a strategy for Haryana Assembly polls and discuss the issue of party symbol.
Contesting the polls in an alliance with Aam Aadmi Party, the JJP had fought on seven seats leaving three for AAP. The JJP is reportedly losing its election symbol of slippers as it had failed to get the required vote share in the parliamentary elections.
Another alliance of Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party –Loktantra Suraksha Party of former MP Raj Kumar Saini had also failed to sway the dalit and backward class voters in the state as its candidates had finished at poor fourth or fifth place, even losing their security deposit in the elections.
Notably, the BJP will contest the State Assembly polls in an alliance with Shiromani Akali Dal while the Congress is likely to go it alone in the polls. The respective alliances of JJP-AAP and LSP-BSP are also likely to remain intact for State Assembly elections.