There are assembly elections in Haryana and BJP has released the first list of candidates. Chief Minister Naib Singh Saini will now contest from Ladwa seat instead of Karnal. That is, the party has played a gamble of making Saini contest from a new seat. When there was a change of power in the state in March 2024, just before the Lok Sabha elections, the then Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar was an MLA from Karnal. When he resigned, the party made Saini contest the by-election from this seat in June. Now after three months, Saini will be seen in the electoral fray from a new seat. However, this area is not new for Saini. He was an MP from Kurukshetra before becoming the Chief Minister. Ladwa seat also comes in Kurukshetra parliamentary constituency.
BJP is trying to score a hat-trick of victory in the 90-member Haryana Assembly elections. On Wednesday, the party announced the names of 67 candidates in the first list. This time Jagmohan Anand has been given ticket from Karnal. The organization has changed candidates on 40 seats. The list includes names of eight ministers, nine MLAs and five former ministers. While the tickets of three ministers, five MLAs and four former ministers have been cut. Ranjit Singh Chautala’s name is also among the ministers whose tickets have been cut.
Why was Naib Singh Saini’s seat changed?
Nayab Singh Saini is considered to have a strong hold in Jatland. He is an OBC leader. When the Karnal seat fell vacant after Manohar Lal Khattar’s resignation, Saini contested the by-election from here and defeated Sardar Tarlochan Singh of Congress by a margin of 41 thousand 483 votes. Before the ticket announcement, Saini himself was repeatedly repeating that he would contest from the Karnal seat. Not only this, he also did a big road show in Karnal on 30 August and bowed to the land of Karnal. Karnal is called Khattar’s stronghold. However, BJP state president Mohan Lal Baroli had indicated a week ago that he would not contest the elections this time. While CM Saini will contest from Ladwa this time. At the same time, CM Saini said that state president Baroli has more information than me, because the state president has done the work of telling the names of those who had expressed their desire to contest the elections to the central leadership inside the Parliamentary Board. Now the decision has to be taken by the Parliamentary Board. Now whatever decision is taken, we will accept it. I would request everyone to look only at the lotus symbol and not the candidate.
At present, there are many discussions going on behind changing Saini’s seat. BJP has given ticket to Jagmohan Anand from Karnal, he has been associated with the party for a long time and has also been the media advisor of former Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.
Since, Kurukshetra is considered to be the home turf of Nayab Singh Saini. Here he has a strong hold in the organization and the area. It is believed that BJP has in a way brought Saini back home in the assembly elections. However, the opposition says that the opposition is playing safe. It does not want to take any kind of risk. The opposition argues that Saini contested the 2009 and 2014 assembly elections from Narayangarh. He lost in 2009 and won in 2014. Later he was made a minister in the Khattar government. When the 2019 Lok Sabha elections came, the party gave Nayab a ticket from Kurukshetra. Nayab lived up to the trust of the organization. However, in the 2019 assembly elections, BJP lost the election from Narayangarh seat.
It is believed that the party has decided to field Saini from his home constituency in the assembly elections this time. Saini’s house in Kurukshetra is in Thanesar area. He is originally from Ambala. Saini has new challenges ahead of him. Not only does he have to win himself, but he also has to put in all his efforts for a hat-trick of the BJP government. The party made Saini the state president of Haryana in 2023. After that, on March 12, 2024, the party surprised everyone by making him the Chief Minister.
Saini contesting from a different seat for the fourth time in 10 years
Interestingly, Saini is going to contest elections from a different seat for the fourth consecutive time in a span of 10 years. Saini won from Narayangarh seat in Ambala in 2014. After that, in 2019, he contested and won the Lok Sabha elections from Kurukshetra. In 2024, Saini contested the assembly by-election from Karnal seat and won. Now after three months, he will again contest the assembly elections from a new seat, Ladwa.
Congress won the Ladwa seat in 2019
If we look at the track record of the last three elections on the Ladwa seat, Congress-BJP and Indian National Lok Dal have won here once each. In 2019, Congress’ Meva Singh won from Ladwa seat. Meva got 57,665 votes and BJP’s Dr. Pawan Saini got 45,028 votes. In 2014, BJP’s Dr. Pawan Saini won. Pawan got 42,445 votes and Indian National Lok Dal’s Bachan Kaur Barshami got 39,453 votes. In 2009, Indian National Lok Dal’s Sher Singh Barshami won here. BJP is also facing the threat of internal sabotage on the Ladwa seat. However, with the CM in the fray, unity can also be seen in the organization.
What are the ground equations on Ladwa seat
There are a good number of voters of Saini community in Ladwa seat. BJP has bet on Dr. Pawan of Saini community twice here. Pawan has won once. In the 2019 elections, he lost by about 12 thousand votes. BJP feels that with Naib Singh Saini contesting the elections, Saini community may lean towards BJP and the party may benefit from it. Naib Singh Saini is the sitting Chief Minister. This will send a different message to the surrounding seats and may help in winning. Kurukshetra is also considered a farmer belt. There are also a large number of Jat voters here. The party fears that even though the Saini community votes in good numbers, the scattering of votes cannot be ruled out. The challenge before Naib Singh Saini will be to stop the scattering of votes and win a big victory.
Source (PTI) (NDTV) (HINDUSTANTIMES)