Can Congress be third-time lucky in Haryana?

Anti-incumbency against BJP and farmer protests favour the Oppn party, but analysts say the election outcome hinges on coalition dynamics and multi-cornered contests

- ARCHIS MOHAN

Over the past three weeks, Haryana's Congress leadership has focused on the Dushyant Chautala-led Jannayak Janta Party's (JJP's) lower vote count compared to NOTA (none of the above) in the 2024 Lok Sabha (LS) elections, rather than their own victory in five of the state's 10 LS seats. While the Congress' assertion is misleading when examining the data, it is also clever.

Five years ago, the JJP, then barely a year old in politics, grievously hurt the Congress.

It won 10 Assembly seats and secured a 14.84 per cent vote share in the 2019 Assembly polls in Haryana, which it contested on an antiBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) plank.

After the elections, it joined hands with the BJP, helping the party run a coalition government in the state for another term. The JJP parted ways with the BJP months before the LS elections. It fielded candidates on all 10 seats, who were expected to eat into the Congress' Jat support base.

However, the JJP's performance has been disappointing.

In the 2024 LS elections, the JJP received 113,122 votes, a meagre 0.87 per cent of the total votes polled in Haryana, compared to NOTA's 43,192 votes (0.33 per cent). Its candidates received fewer votes than NOTA in two seats, while Naina Singh Chautala, Dushyant's mother, finished sixth in the Hisar LS constituency with 22,303 votes.

The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), another Jat party in Haryana, did slightly better, securing 1.74 per cent of the total votes polled in the state. The JJP split from the INLD in October 2018.