Deepender Deswal

Hisar, April 4

Data reveals that Haryana has witnessed 12 nail-biting political battles in its electoral history in the Lok Sabha poll, which registered an exciting finish with a margin below 5,000 votes.

Election Commission of India (ECI) records indicated that the Rohtak Lok Sabha seat has seen three close contests, two of them between former Deputy PM Devi Lal and former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda in 1996 and 1998. Mahendragarh and Ambala seats also witnessed close contests twice each.

The closest electoral fight took place at Faridabad seat in 1980, which was won by the Congress candidate by a margin of just 158 votes against Janata Party contestant Khurshid Ahmed. Another contest took place at Karnal seat in 1967, when Congress candidate Pt Madhoram defeated Jan Sangh candidate Rameshwar Nand by 203 votes. It was a direct contest between them as only they were in the fray.

One of the toughest and eagerly awaited contests took place at the Rohtak seat in the 1998 General Election, which was fought between Devi Lal (Haryana Lok Dal) and Hooda (Congress). Hooda won by 383 votes.

Recalling the ups and downs of the more than a day-long counting, Pawan Kumar Bansal, an author of books on Haryana politics, said it was one of the most thrilling contests. "The trends in the counting showed it was going to be neck-and-neck. Supporters of both leaders camped outside the counting centre. The atmosphere was so intense that the district election officer advised Congress supporters not to carry out a victory procession after the declaration of the result," he said.

A similar contest between Hooda and Devi Lal on Rohtak seat in 1996 was won by Hooda by 2,264 votes. It was an equally tough contest in 1998. Coincidentally, it was Devi Lal who lost on three occasions in the closely fought contests. He was also defeated by Dharam Pal Malik (Congress) in 1984 on Sonepat seat by a margin of 2,941 votes. A retired professor of MD University, Rohtak, Dr SS Chahar, said Devi Lal was a fighter who never shied away from a contest. "He tasted successes and losses but was always ready for a poll battle", he said.

Haryanvis were said to be politically sentimental, though they could sense political winds blowing across the country, he said, adding that, "A direct contest between the ruling BJP and the Congress-led INDIA bloc is expected this time."