Did the Independents play spoilsport for the Congress in Haryana? | India News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Congress is still reeling from the shocking loss in Haryana. The party leadership has formed an inquiry committee and has also approached the Election Commission of India to probe the ‘discrepancies’ found in some Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) during the counting of votes. However, a section of the state unit is blaming the ‘Hooda Congress’ for the party’s stunning defeat.
Several state Congress leaders have openly attacked former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his MP son Deepender Hooda for trampling on other state leaders and imposing their will on all major decisions, including ticket distribution. Some even claim that the father-son duo committed sabotage. Senior Congress Leader Kumari Seljawho had stayed away from most of the party’s campaign, had also openly expressed her displeasure over the Hooda camp’s dominance in ticket distribution.
Former Congress MLA Shamsher Singh Gogi, who lost the Assandh seat to BJP leader Yoginder Singh Rana, said the blame for the defeat lies with “bapu-beta”. “Congress would not have lost. ‘Hooda Congress’ contested the elections and they lost, they did not take anyone into confidence. They created a communication gap within the party. If the elections were well contested, people wanted Congress government this time. the responsibility (of the defeat) lies with ‘bapu-beta’,” Gogi told news agency ANI.
Congress candidate Parvinder Pal Pari, who lost in Ambala Cantt, had also accused Bhupinder Hooda and Deepender Hooda of conspiring against him by supporting an independent candidate. Pari, who aligns with the party’s Selja faction, described the outcome not as a defeat of the Congress but rather a defeat of the ‘BD gang’ (Bhupinder-Deepender), claiming that they at had to promote their own agenda over party unity. .

Is there anything to these accusations?

A close analysis of the results shows that the Congress suffered in twelve seats due to the presence of independents, most of whom had entered the fray as rebels after the party denied tickets.
The Independents won three seats in the Haryana assembly, stood second with seven seats and came third with thirty seats. Of the seven Independents who eventually came second, four were Congress rebels. Again in the 30 seats where the Independents finished in third place, the Congress candidate’s margin of defeat in 12 seats was smaller than the votes polled by the Independent candidate. These seats were: Badhra, Uchana Kalan, Gohana, Dadri, Kalka, Mahendargarh, Rai, Rania, Safidon, Samalkha, Sohna and Tosham. Clearly, better ticket distribution may have helped Congress win some of these seats.

The BJP also suffered from the Independents, but only in two seats: Kalayat and Prithla. The saffron party, which took a back seat, managed to win back most of the rebels. However, the Congress, which was ‘overconfident’ in victory, may have underestimated the negative impact of the rebels in the battle and not done enough to reach out to them.
The Congress leadership must introspect. Did she make a mistake by placing all her bets on Bhupinder Singh Hooda at the expense of other state leaders? Did Congress also blame the EVMs?