Haryana election results 2024: As BJP looks set for win, 5 things the party got right

1. Consolidation of non-Jat votes

The BJP’s strategy for Haryana has been clear since 2014, when it jumped from four to 47 seats. Contrary to conventional expectations, it appointed Manohar Lal Khattar, a Punjabi Khatri, as Chief Minister. The party focused on securing the OBC vote, which makes up about 40 per cent of the population, by elevating Nayab Singh Saini, an OBC, as state party chief and later as Khattar’s replacement in March this year.

Saini’s candidacy as CM was confirmed early, ensuring the party garnered OBC support in a state where the Chief Minister has often been from the upper-caste Jat community, which forms 25 per cent of the population. The BJP cemented its win by wooing the 75 per cent non-Jat voters.

The BJP also targeted Scheduled Caste (SC) voters, particularly through women’s self-help groups in villages. The ‘Lakhpati Drone Didis’, often from Dalit families, became symbols of this outreach. Prime Minister Narendra Modi even personally invited many of them. This sentiment resonated among the youth as well, as reflected in the words of an ITI student in Ambala who remarked, “Modi ji will elevate SCs to the general category.”

2. Candidate selection of Congress, BJP in Haryana 

While Congress leaders like Bhupinder Hooda pushed for their own candidates, the BJP adopted a different approach, choosing 60 fresh faces to combat anti-incumbency. The party also replaced former CM Khattar, who was perceived as arrogant, with the more approachable Nayab Singh Saini. In contrast, Congress re-nominated 17 candidates who had lost earlier, including its state president, Udai Bhan.

The BJP also attacked the Congress by claiming that it would again anoint Hooda as Chief Minister, a move that may have alienated non-Jat voters by reinforcing the perception that jobs and opportunities would concentrate in Hooda’s stronghold of Rohtak.

3. Development, DBTs, and discipline

The BJP started its campaign much before the Congress could get its act together. It ramped up its campaign as early as January with its “Modi ki Guarantee” vans touring villages. These vans highlighted government schemes and allowed villagers to rectify issues in their Parivar Pehchan Patras. The party also emphasised its success with Direct Benefit Transfers (DBTs), claiming to be number one in the country in ensuring that benefits went directly into beneficiaries’ accounts.

Then followed a slew of welfare announcements that stopped only when the poll code was enforced.

Development in the GT Road constituencies, which stretch from Ambala to Delhi, was another focal point, with six districts and 25 seats experiencing significant progress. Voters appear to have rewarded this work at the ballot box. The BJP also stressed its efforts to reduce crime, contrasting its discipline with the chaos it warned a Congress-led government would bring.

4. Fragmented Opposition

Unlike in the Lok Sabha elections, Congress and AAP fought separately in this contest. The battlefield was further crowded by the Indian National Lok Dal, which allied with the Bahujan Samaj Party, and the JJP, which teamed up with the Azad Samaj Party. Numerous independent candidates also entered the fray. This split the anti-BJP vote, contributing to Congress’s defeat in several constituencies.

5. Poll pitch and machinery

The BJP pulled out all the stops, holding over 150 rallies, many addressed by PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, compared with the around 70 by Congress. The BJP’s poll messaging contrasted sharply with that of Congress. While Rahul Gandhi focused on farmers and pitched them against industrialists like Ambani and Adani, his socialist rhetoric may not have resonated with the business community and upwardly mobile voters.