CHANDIGARH: Two daughters-in-law of Chuatala family and their uncle-in-law are eyeball to eyeball in Hisar while three-time MP has been fielded by the main opposition Congress party.
Ahead of the polls, the state is witnessing a pendulum swinging and conflicting perceptions and the heavyweights from all political factions are on their toes to contest the elections successfully. It is evident from the prevailing political scenario that the ruling BJP and the main opposition Congress party are at loggerheads in the parliamentary polls battle. Hisar Loksabha’s seat is being counted as one of the most politically significant constituencies as leaders from the Chautala family and Congress candidate Jaiprakash are eyeball to eyeball.
Hisar seat is set to see a fight between two daughters-in-law and an uncle father-in-law- all from the family of former Deputy late Prime Minister Devi Lal. The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), which is going through tough times for the last two decades, has fielded party’s party’s women’s wing general secretary Sunaina Chautala, wife of Ravi Chautala and daughter in law Pratap Singh Chautala, from the seat . Notably, currently, Hisar Lok Sabha seat is represented by former BJP leader Brijendra Singh son of Chaudhary Birender Singh, who recently joined Congress quitting saffron party citing differences with party leadership.
Partap Singh Chautala is the youngest son of former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal and brother of former five-time CM OP Chautala. The BJP has fielded Ranjit Singh Chuatala, who is Devi Lal’s elder son, from Hisar. Likewise, The Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) has made Naina Chautala to contest the polls. Naina is the wife of JJP president Ajay Singh Chautala, who is the son of former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala, another son of Devi Lal and holds the portfolio of National President of the JJP. Thus, the Lok Sabha elections to Hisar seat in Haryana is set to see a fight between two daughters-in-law and a father-in-law – all from the family of Devi Lal. JJP candidate Naina Chautala is a two-time MLA presently representing the Badhra seat in the Haryana assembly. BJP candidate Ranjit Chautala has served as a minister in his father Chief Minister Devi Lal’s cabinet in Haryana and still holds the portfolio of cabinet minister while the INLD candidate Sunaina Chautala has been leading INLD’s women’s wing since 2019.
Congress candidate Jai Parkash holds the record of becoming MP thrice from Hisar parliamentary seat, the maximum number of times. Jai Prakash also held the portfolio of Deputy Minister in the Union Petroleum Ministry for six months in 1990-91 in the Chandrashekhar led- government formed with the support of the then Congress at the Center While contesting on Janata Dal ticket in the 1989 Lok Sabha general elections, Jai Prakash defeated Birendra Singh of Congress, who had recently returned to Congress after spending nearly ten years in BJP In that election, Jai Prakash got 51% votes while Birendra Singh got 43% votes. However, before this, in the 1984 Lok Sabha general elections, Birendra Singh, while contesting from the Congress Party, was elected MP for the first time defeating the former Chief Minister of the state Om Prakash Chautala by a margin of more than fifty thousand votes.
In continuation to the aforementioned, it is pertinent to mention that over the battle of dominance and supremacy, the three Chautala families had witnessed a split. Following the feud in the family, Ajay Chautala and his Dushyant Chautala split from INLD in 2018 and formed the JJP. In 2019, the JJP extended support to the BJP to form the government in Haryana. However, the BJP-JJP alliance parted ways following differences. Dushyant, who was the former deputy chief minister in the Manohar Lal Khattar Haryana government, had won the Hisar Lok Sabha seat in 2014 but faced a fiasco in 2019 at the hands of Brijendra Singh, Bureaucrat-turned politician in 2019 who was denied tickets by the Congress now.
Due to the death of the then Hisar MP Bhajan Lal in June 2011, a by-election was held on the Hisar Lok Sabha seat in October 2011 in which Bhajan Lal’s younger son Kuldeep Bishnoi, contesting from HJKA (B), defeated INLD’s Ajay Singh Chautala. Defeated and elected MP. In that election, Jai Prakash, who contested on a Congress ticket, received only 1.5 lakh votes due to which his security deposit was confiscated. To date, that was the only election (actually a by-election) in which Jai Prakash lost his fixed deposit from Hisar Lok Sabha. After this, in the 2014 Haryana Assembly elections, Jai Prakash became an independent MLA from Kaithal’s Kalayat seat. One and a half years ago, in November 2022, while contesting the election on a Congress ticket, Jai Prakash, although he lost the assembly by-election from Adampur seat of Hisar district to Bhavya Bishnoi, son of BJP’s Kuldeep Bishnoi, by about 16 thousand votes, he won that election by 39 thousand votes.
