In Haryana, all eyes on Karnal today as both CM, former CM to file nominations

Karnal Lok Sabha constituency comprises nine assembly segments. These include six represented by the BJP, including, Indri, Karnal, Gharaunda, Panipat Rural and Panipat city, and one by an Independent. The remaining three assembly segments of Assandh, Israna (a reserved constituency), and Samalkha are represented by Congress.

In 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Karnal Lok Sabha seat witnessed 68.31 per cent votes and BJP’s then nominee Sanjay Bhatia won by a whopping margin of over 6 lakh votes. From the same Karnal Lok Sabha seat, BJP’s Ashwini Kumar had won in 2014, too. Congress’ Arvind Kumar Sharma won Karnal in 2009 and 2004, both times as Congress candidate. This time, Sharma is contesting as BJP candidate from Rohtak against Congress’ Deepender Singh Hooda. In 2019, too, Sharma had contested from Rohtak as BJP candidate and defeated Deepender.

For Khattar, this would be the first Lok Sabha poll that he will be contesting. Saini, on the other hand, had won his first Lok Sabha polls in 2019 from Kurukshetra. Saini is also the president of BJP in Haryana since 2023 and he is serving as the CM since March 12, 2024. Before being elected to Lok Sabha from Kurukshetra in 2019, Saini had remained a minister of state in Haryana government from 2015 till 2019. At that time he was MLA from Naraingarh.

Khattar won his first Vidhan Sabha election from Karnal in Haryana in 2014 and consecutively for the second time in 2019 from the same constituency. Congress had fielded Tarlochan Singh against Khattar in Karnal assembly segment in 2019, too. However, while Khattar got 63.72 per cent of the total votes polled, Tarlochan finished a distant second with 27.68 per cent votes. In 2014 Assembly polls, Khattar had got 58.75 per cent of the total votes polled while Congress’ then candidate Surender Narwal had barely got 9.12 per cent of the total votes polled.

In the history of Assembly polls in Karnal, no candidate has ever won with such high percentage of total votes polled as Khattar got in 2014 and 2019.

As far as Lok Sabha polls in Karnal parliamentary constituency is concerned, BJP’s candidates got the highest ever voting percentage in 2014 and 2019. In 2014, BJP’s then nominee Ashwini Kumar Chopra got 49.84 per cent of the total votes polled defeating then Congress’ candidate Arvind Kumar Sharma who got 19.66 per cent of the total votes polled; in 2019, BJP’s Sanjay Bhatia got 70.08 per cent votes against Congress’ Kuldip Sharma who finished a distant second by getting 19.64 per cent votes.

However, since 1952 elections from Karnal, Congress had won 11 times (1952, 1957, 1967, 1971, 1980, 1984, 1989, 1991, 1998, 2004 and 2009). Contrary to the Congress’ track record in Karnal Lok Sabha seat, BJP had barely won this seat five times (1962-Bharatiya Jana Sangh, and by the BJP in 1996, 1999, 2014 and 2019). Senior Congress leaders including Chiranji Lal Sharma and Bhajan Lal had won from Karnal Lok Sabha seat, earlier. For the BJP, Ishwar Dayal Swami who also remained as Minister of State for Home Affairs in the third Atal Behari Vajpayee ministry had won twice from Karnal, including in 1999 when he defeated Bhajan Lal, the former chief minister of Haryana.

Divyanshu Buddhiraja is Congress’ youth wing president and Tarlochan Singh is an old Congress party worker. Both, had already filed their nomination papers for Karnal Lok Sabha seat and Karnal Vidhan Sabha seat, respectively.

Khattar and Saini will file nominations amid a full show of strength, on Monday.