Haryana poll: BJP Wins 28 Seats, But Lose All But 2 Ministers

The ruling BJP-led by Manohar Lal Khattar on Thursday won 22 seats, but lost all its ministers, except two, including Anil Vij, and party chief Subhash Barala.

Chandigarh, Oct 24 (IANS) The ruling BJP-led by Manohar Lal Khattar on Thursday won 22 seats, but lost all its ministers, except two, including Anil Vij, and party chief Subhash Barala. However, its nearest rival Congress won 20 seats in the 90-member Haryana Assembly even as the counting of ballots is still underway. The less than 12-month old Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), which broke away from the state''s once major regional Indian National Lok Dal party owing to family disputes, won 10 seats and its candidates are leading in some of the seats. Eight Independents have also won in their respective constituencies. While Khattar is maintaining a comfortable lead towards retaining his Karnal seat, two-time Chief Minister and Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda retained his bastion of Garhi Sampla-Kiloi in the Rohtak district. BJP''s outgoing Ministers Captain Abhimanyu, O.P. Dhankar, Ram Bilas Sharma, Kavita Jain, Krishan Lal Panwar, Manish Grover, Krishan Kumar Bedi ended up with humiliating defeats. BJP candidate and Public Health and Engineering Minister Banwari Lal won the Bawal seat. Two sitting Ministers, Rao Narbir Singh and Vipul Goel, were denied tickets and fresh faces brought in. Sitting Congress legislator Kuldeep Bishnoi, whose hotel worth Rs 150 crore in a prime location of Gurugram has been attached by the Income Tax Department, retained his stronghold of Adampur by defeating his nearest rival and Tik Tok celebrity Sonali Phogat of the BJP by over 29,000 votes. Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) chief Dushyant Chautala and her mother Naina Chautala won the Uchana Kalan and Badhra seats, respectively. Outgoing Finance Minister Captain Abhimanyu, who lost to JJP candidate and BJP rebel Ram Kumar Gautam in the Narnaud constituency in Hisar district by a margin of 12,029 votes, admitted his defeat during counting. With it becoming clear that the BJP would not form the government on its own, its state unit chief Subhash Barala also lost the Tohana assembly seat in Fatehabad district by more than 20,000 votes from JJP''s Devender Singh Babli. He has quashed rumours of his resignation from his post after his defeat. BJP candidate and former Indian hockey captain Sandeep Singh defeated Congress'' Mandeep Chatha. This was the BJP''s first win in the constituency. While BJP candidate and international wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt faced defeat, another of its candidates, wrestler Babita Phogat, trailed in the Dadri assembly constituency in Bhiwani. She is in third position behind Independent Sombir Sangwan and JJP''s Satpal Sangwan. The another prominent defeat for the BJP is its sitting legislator Prem Lata, 59, wife of former Union Minister Birender Singh, who was defeated by the JJP chief Dushyant Chautala, the great grandson of former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal. Congress national spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala, who lost by nearly 530 votes to BJP''s Leela Ram, conceded defeat from Kaithal. Surjewala, a two-time MLA, was seeking his third term from Kaithal, once a known stronghold of the Surjewala family. Congress leader Kiran Chaudhary, however, retained her Tosham seat by over 12,000 votes. The Congress candidate from Ferozepur Jhirka in Nuh district, Mamman Khan, defeated BJP''s Naseem Ahmed, an INLD defector. Ahmed had won in this seat in the 2014 and 2009 Assembly elections. BJP''s Pramod Vij and Mahipal Dhanda won Panipat City and Rural seats, respectively. The JJP appears set to play kingmaker in the state. Dushyant Chautala said he has called a meeting of the party executive at 11 a.m. on Friday in Delhi to discuss the party''s strategy. JJP candidate Ram Niwas won from Narwana (reserved). He was contesting against BJP''s Santosh Rai. JJP candidate Ram Karan won from Shahbad (reserved) by a margin of 37,127 votes against BJP''s Krishan Kumar. Another JJP candidate Amarjeet Dhanda has won from Julana beating the incumbent Parminder Singh Dhull, who switched to the BJP from the INLD. Independent candidate Nayan Pal Rawat won from Prithala.