Haryana Assembly Polls: As CM Nayab Saini Faces Sitting MLA In Ladwa, A Look At Who Has The Edge

The Ladwa constituency in Haryana is a key battleground in the upcoming Assembly polls, with the BJP fielding Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini against Congress's Mewa Singh.

Haryana Assembly Election: With Assembly polls around the corner, the Ladwa constituency in Haryana has turned into a high-stake battleground for both the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and Congress. Eyeing the OBC votes, the BJP has fielded Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini from the Ladwa seat, while the Congress has chosen sitting MLA Mewa Singh as its candidate. Former MLA Sher Singh Barshami is also in the fray from the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) ticket, and Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) is likely to field its Kurukshetra senior vice-president Ranjeet Nain from the seat.

Carved out as a separate constituency only in 2009, the Ladwa Assembly seat has a sizeable population of other backward classes (OBCs), especially Saini voters, making it a safer bet for CM Saini. However, the contest is unlikely to be easy going for Saini, with a sitting and a former MLA contesting against him. 

Saini's Electoral Past 

Saini won from Naraingarh Assembly seat in 2014. Five years later, he successfully contested the Kurukshetra Lok Sabha seat. However, months before the Lok Sabha polls, BJP named him as the replacement for Manohar Lal Khattar as CM and fielded him from the Karnal Assembly seat, which he won by defeating the Congress’s Tarlochan Singh comfortably by 41,540 votes. In the 2019 Assembly polls, Khattar had won from the Karnal seat.

Reports said that Saini wanted to stick to Karnal, but the ticket went to Jagmohan Anand, Khattar’s former media coordinator and ex-Karnal district president.

Saini has been facing frequent jibes from Dushyant Chautala’s Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) and Congress for the frequent change in his constituencies. While Congress claimed that the Chief Minister does not have the "courage to contest from Karnal”, JJP called him a “kati patang (kite with no strings)”.

Ladwa's Demographics 

Lawda Assembly segment is part of Haryana's  Kurukshetra Lok Sabha constituency, which was won by BJP's Naveen Jindal by a margin of over 29,000 votes in recently concluded general elections. The seat was carved out from the Thanesar Assembly segment in 2009 and no party has won it twice. 

It has a 40.09 per cent OBC population,  with the Saini community alone accounting for 18.92 per cent, according to a report by NDTV. Among non-OBC communities, Jats make up a sizeable 15.84 per cent population. The constituency reportedly has 1.95 lakh voters.

With the fallout of Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) alliance talks, BJP is eyeing a hat-trick in the upcoming Haryana assembly elections. Haryana will vote on October 5 and counting will be held on October 8.

Will Saini Win From Ladwa?

Speaking to NDTV, Saini said, "I am getting a lot of love and support from the people of Ladwa. I am convinced that the BJP will get a big mandate and will form the government for the third time. We are giving cylinders at ₹ 500 and have bought every last grain from farmers at the minimum support price (MSP)."

His Congress rival, Mewa Singh, claimed that people are angry at the BJP and people will vote for the grand old party on the basis of his hard work on the past five years. "I won from Ladwa last time, faced a challenge and won with a margin of over 12,500 votes. In these five years, I have worked hard for the constituency and have got support from many communities, so I don't see the upcoming polls as a challenge... The bypass is a major issue here, but that hasn't been built. People will ask these questions of Mr Saini. People in the state want Bhupinder Singh Hooda to be the chief minister," he said.