THE HARYANVI POLL HUSTLE

AFTER A DECADE-LONG RULE, THE BJP IS TRYING TO DEFEND THE JAT HEARTLAND FROM A CONGRESS THAT IS RESURGENT BUT ALSO RIDDLED WITH INFIGHTING

- Anilesh S. Mahajan

ON THE AFTERNOON OF AUGUST 17, the Nayab Singh Saini cabinet in Haryana approved certain tweaks to the Scheduled Caste (SC) and Other Backward Class (OBC) quotas and service norms for contracted college lecturers. While this might appear as routine administrative work, the timing raised eyebrows. It occurred just a day after the Election Commission (EC) announced the date for the Haryana assembly election—October 1. Compared to the 2019 state election, held on October 21, that’s nearly three weeks early.

When Saini replaced Manohar Lal Khattar as chief minister weeks before the Lok Sabha election this year, he inherited an administration burdened with a decade of anti-incumbency and discontent among the dominant Jat community. The results indicated a Congress revival, as it improved its vote share from 28.4 per cent in 2019 to 43.7 per cent in 2024. In comparison, support for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dwindled from 58 per cent to 46.1 per cent and saw it ceding five of the 10 parliamentary seats to the Congress. In this backdrop, the August 17 cabinet decisions were part of a flurry of policy adjustments undertaken by the Saini regime over the past two months, aimed at improving the BJP’s electoral prospects. But the sudden election announcement caught him on the wrong foot, as it triggered the model code of conduct. So, now the implementation of these decisions will hinge on clearances from the EC.