Jind assembly by-poll to witness multi-cornered fight

The by-election to Jind assembly constituency slated for January 28 is set to witness a four-cornered battle between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress, Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) as all of them have fielded prominent party leaders to contest the poll.

After Congress’ surprise move of nominating Kaithal MLA Randeep Surjewala from the seat, the JJP on Thursday announced veteran leader Ajay Chautala’s younger son Digvijay as its candidate. The fight between the duo will be interesting as Surjewala first rose to prominence in the Congress after defeating Digvijay’s grandfather Om Prakash Chautala in Jind’s Narwana.

The INLD, which struggled for a face this time, has gone with Umed Singh Redhu who is considered to have the backing of the khaps in Jind. The constituency has 36 villages that have a following of the khaps.

The ruling BJP, which has never won the Jind assembly seat, has given the ticket to former INLD MLA Hari Chand Middha’s son Krishan.

Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) leader Digvijay Chautala filing his nomination for Jind by-election in the presence of state president Sardar Nishan Singh and Hisar MP Dushyant Chautala, in Jind, on Thursday, January 10, 2019. (Manoj Dhaka / HT Photo )

While the candidates of the four parties filed their nominations on Thursday, which was also the last day to file nomination, the political pundits in the state predicted a nail-biting match.

The parties displayed a show of strength while filing the nomination. In Congress, the divided factions led by former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, state president Ashok Tanwar and CLP leader Kiran Choudhry came together and accompanied Surjewala to file his nomination.

The BJP candidate Krishan Middha filed his nomination in the presence of state president Subhash Barala and state cabinet ministers Karndev Kamboj, Ram Bilas Sharma and Krishan Lal Panwar.

The saffron party did not delay in appeasing the dissidents who got angry when Middha bagged the ticket. Even leaders such as Jawahar Saini, who had openly made their disenchantment known after Middha’s candidature was announced, accompanied him during filing of papers. Saini was being seen by many as the strongest candidate to get the ticket.

First Published: Jan 11, 2019 12:09 IST