Haryana assembly polls: BJP surges ahead in initial rounds

The BJP candidates surged ahead in the initial rounds in at least 40 of the total of 90 seats in Haryana, as the counting for the assembly polls was in progress on Sunday.

The Haryana BJP president Ram Bilas Sharma, who is contesting from his hometown Mahendergarh, was ahead of his rival Congress’ Rao Dan Singh by over 4,000 votes, while BJP candidate Capt Abhimanyu who was contesting from Narnaund seat too was ahead of his rivals.

Likewise, Vandana Sharma, younger sister of Union external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj was ahead of her nearest rival INLD sitting MLA Kali Ram Patwari by about 300 votes.

Another prominent BJP leader M L Khattar, who was contesting from Karnal was ahead of his nearest rival INLD’s Manoj Wadhwa, by over 20,000 votes. The BJP’s first timer Prem Lata, wife of senior Jat leader Birender Singh, contesting from Uchana against INLD youngest MP (from Hisar) Dushyant Chautala, however, trailed by a meager margin.

However, surprisingly, BJP candidate from Panchkula Gianchand Gupta, from Kalka Latika Sharma and from Ambala Cantt, Anil Vij were ahead in their respective seats by about 10,000 votes.

Similarly, other BJP candidate from Thanesar Subhash Sudha, was ahead of INLD president Ashok Arora by over 20,000 votes while in Panipat city seat BJP's first timer Rohita Rewari, too was ahead of her rivals.

If trends are an indication, the BJP seemed to be set to make a history as its best performance was in 1987 when it got 16 seats and in 1996 when it got 11, and never in double digit in other nine assembly elections, since the formation of Haryana since its formation in 1966.