More Disappointment For Congress, Its Haryana Chief Udai Bhan Loses

New Delhi:

Haryana Congress president Udai Bhan has lost from Hodal Assembly constituency by a margin of over 2,500 votes, compounding the main Opposition party’s disappointment at losing an election it was expected to win comfortably.

A four-time MLA, the 69-year-old lost to BJP’s Harinder Singh. Udai Bhan had won the Hodal seat in the 2014 Assembly polls, but lost to the BJP’s Jagdish Nayar in the 2019 election. He was serving as Haryana Congress chief from 2022.

Udai Bhan is from the Scheduled Caste community and the defeat of such a high-profile candidate from the SC community raises questions on whether the Congress’s outreach to Dalits did not work in Haryana.

Following the shocking results, in which Congress went from leading in early rounds to falling far behind the BJP later in the day, it is apparent that the Congress’s focus on consolidating Jat votes may have backfired and led to a counter consolidation of non-Jat votes in the state.

Another factor that appears to have played a big role in the Congress’s poor show is infighting within its ranks. A power tussle between factions led by former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and senior Congress leader Kumari Selja — also a Dalit leader and a former state Congress chief — appears to have hurt the party’s prospects in this election.

Udai Bhan had been leading from Hodal earlier in the day but his BJP opponent narrowed the gap in later rounds and eventually overtook him to clinch a victory.

Defying exit polls predictions and experts’ opinions, the incumbent BJP has posted its best-ever poll show in Haryana today, winning 48 out of 90 seats and comfortably returning to power for the third term in a row. The Congress, which was confident of a sweep in its favour, finished way below its expectations — 37 seats.