lok-sabha-elections

Updated: May 24, 2019 13:39 IST

Political dynasties of Haryana stand decimated as the Thursday results made the third and fourth generations of former chief ministers Bansi Lal, Devi Lal and Bhajan Lal bite the dust. But the electors backed BJP candidates hailing from prominent political clans as the ruling BJP created history by winning all the 10 Lok Sabha seats.

Leading the pack to keep the political legacy of a family intact was the Congress, followed by the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and its off-shoot, the newly floated Jannayak Janata Party (JJP).

Congress had fielded at least six candidates who came from different political clans.

By defeating former two-term chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in Sonepat and his son and three-term MP Deepender Singh Hooda, who lost by a thin margin in his citadel Rohtak, the electors gave a body blow to the Hoodas.

Surprisingly, the voters spared kin of BJP leaders. They backed Congressman-turned BJP leader and Union minister Birender Singh’s son Brijendra Singh from Hisar.

Brijendra Singh won by 3,14,068 votes, defeating sitting MP Dushyant Chautala, the great grandson of former deputy prime minister Devi Lal. Another dynast in the race from Hisar was Bhavya Bishnoi of the Congress, who stood third and received 1,84,369 votes.

In Gurugram, Rao Inderjit Singh of BJP and son of former chief minister Rao Birender Singh, bucked this anti-dynasty trend and won by bagging over 60% votes. His nearest rival Capt Ajay Singh of the Congress polled 34.24% votes.

Yet another casualty was four- time MP and former Union minister Kumari Selja. She lost by 3,38,497 votes from Ambala. Her rise in politics is attributed to her father Dalbir Singh, a four-time MP from Sirsa and a minister in the Rajiv Gandhi government.

Former chief minister Bansi Lal’s granddaughter and former MP Shruti Chaudhary lost from Bhiwani-Mahendargarh by about 4,35,262 votes.

Voters crushed the political aspirations of other grandsons of former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala, Arjun Singh Chautala (INLD) in Kurukshetra, who was polled 60,679 (4.93%), and Digvijay Singh Chautala in Sonepat who got about 51,000 votes.