DNA TV Show: Why Congress lost in Haryana Assembly elections

Written By Prashant Tamta | Updated: Oct 08, 2024, 11:58 PM IST

Anti-incumbency was also a big challenge for the BJP. To deal with this, the BJP changed the CM even before the Lok Sabha elections.

The results of the Haryana Assembly elections shocked Congress and surprised the BJP. This is because Congress was fully confident about its victory but has now gone into depression and the BJP which was doubtful is now fully charged with confidence. For the first time in the 57-year history of Haryana, a party has formed the government for the third consecutive time. BJP scored a hat-trick of victory by winning 48 seats in Haryana and Congress managed to win only 36 seats, but Aam Aadmi Party could not even open its account.

But how did Congress's confidence in Haryana shatter? As per political analysts, Congress was relying on the anti-incumbency wave of 10 years on most of the seats. Congress also seemed overexcited due to victory on five seats in Haryana in the Lok Sabha elections. However, factionalism is believed to be the biggest reason for Congress's defeat.

The vote share of the BJP and Congress turned out to be close even though the saffron party won the elections with a simple majority. The BJP received 39.94 per cent votes, while the Congress managed 39.09 per cent in the assembly polls. Agniveer was a big issue in Haryana. But BJP announced to give government jobs to every Agniveer in Haryana. It was said throughout the election that OBC-Jat voters are very angry with BJP. But BJP turned the Jat vs. Non-Jat issue in its favour with its social equations.

Anti-incumbency was also a big challenge for the BJP. To deal with this, the BJP changed the CM even before the Lok Sabha elections. BJP did one more thing to deal with the challenge of anti-incumbency. This time BJP changed tickets on 25 seats. Out of them 16 are winning, that is, about 67 percent new candidates won. That is, BJP's formula of changing tickets also worked. This recipe of BJP was so perfect that it not only scored a hat-trick in Haryana but BJP is forming the government for the third consecutive time for the first time in Haryana.