Haryana Election Results: BJP's Bet On CM Nayab Singh Saini From Ladwa Pays Off As Party's OBC Face Wins

The BJP's decision to position Nayab Singh Saini as CM candidate in Haryana paid off, with the party heading towards a hat-trick. Saini won the Ladwa seat.

Haryana Election Results: The Bharatiya Janata Party's gamble to field Nayab Singh Saini as its CM candidate seems to have paid off. While Nayab Singh Saini won the Ladwa seat on Tuesday, the party was heading for the first hat-trick by a political outfit in Haryana. 

Incumbent Haryana CM Nayab Singh Saini won the Ladwa assembly seat by a margin of more than 16,000 votes against Mewa Singh from the Congress. Mewa Singh was the incumbent MLA from Ladwa. In 2019, Mewa Singh had wrested the seat from the BJP's Pawan Saini with a margin of 12,000 votes. He raked in more than 70,000 votes.

As the BJP suffered a break-up with Dushyant Chautala's Jannayak Janta Party in March this year, it decided to focus on the OBC voter base in the state. Saini was elevated to the CM's post during the crisis in the Manohar Lal Khattar government after the JJP pulled out of the alliance. 

Now, riding on a consolidation of non-Jat votes, the BJP is headed to an unprecedented hat-tric in Haryana. If it manages to cross its 2014 tally of 47 seats, it would enter the party into the history books.

Going to the polls, the BJP was faced with anti-incumbency, rebellions, and factionalism. Right before the polls, it ousted eight heavyweight leaders who decided to contest as independents. But perhaps its worst crisis this year was its break up with Dushyant Chautala's Jannayak Janta Party, which led to the fall of the Manohar Lal Khattar government. The break-up meant that the BJP ran the risk of moving away from the Jat voter base.

However, the BJP's parent organisation, the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh, which seemed to have distanced itself from the party after the Lok Sabha elections, played a crucial role in consolidating non-Jat votes. The RSS reportedly held 16,000 public events in Haryana to gather the support of people from OBC, Dalits, and General category communities. The OBC community comprises nearly 30% of the Haryana population.

The BJP also said CM Nayab Singh Saini, an OBC candidate from the Saini community, will retain his seat. This surely had an impact on OBC voters. CM Saini's seat was changed from Karnal to Ladwa, both of which are in the OBC-dominated GT Road belt.

Although incumbent Home Minister Anil Vij, a Jat leader, has thrown in his hat for the CM's post as the "seniormost leader", the BJP is unlikely to replace Saini.