The counting of Haryana Assembly elections is underway on Tuesday, unfolding into an unpredictable battle as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has taken lead after trailing initially. While the initial trends showed the Congress ahead on at least half of the seats, 10 am counting trends were reversed, showing the BJP leading on 48 seats. The magic number for government formation in Haryana is 45.
A miniature version of this battle is unfolding in Tosham seat, where two cousins from the family of late Haryana Chief Minister Bansi Lal are fighting for the family legacy. The Congress has fielded cricket administrator-turned-politician Anirudh Chaudhary from Tosham, while the BJP has put forward Shruti Choudhry. Both cousins are grandchildren of Bansi Lal, and are taking forward a rivalry that their fathers once fought.
The 11 am trend showed that Shruti was leading in the seat by a margin of over 2,071 votes.
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Bansi Lal’s family history
Bansi Lal served as Haryana CM thrice and held key Union portfolios as well. He first won this seat in 1967 and had two sons: Mahendra and Surendra.
Shruti is the daughter of Surender Singh, who died in a helicopter crash in May 2005. Her mother Kiran Chaudhary is a former senior Congress leader and has represented the Tosham seat four times. The mother-daughter duo joined the BJP in June. Kiran took over the family legacy from Tosham after Surendra’s death.
Notably, Aniruddh's father Mahendra is a popular political name, known for defeating Sharad Pawar to become the BCCI president in 2004. Mahendra was a one-time MLA but not from Tosham.
Before quitting the Congress, Shruti Choudhry, 48, was the working president of the Haryana unit of the Congress. She has also served as an MP from Bhiwani-Mahendragarh seat from 2009 to 2014. At present, Kiran Choudhary is a BJP Rajya Sabha MP.