Son betters Hooda winning margin

Deepinder Singh Hooda on Saturday improved upon the victory margin of his father Bhupinder Singh Hooda by retaining the Rohtak Lok Sabha seat for the Congress by a margin of 2,32,098 votes, as compared to the 1,50,435 vote margin the Haryana Chief Minister recorded in the 2004 polls.

Deepinder won the seat by 3,55,230 votes and was followed by Abhimanyu of the BJP who polled 1,23,132 votes. Om Parkash Chautala nominee Balwan Singh Suhag finished third with 36,980 votes in a contest which also had 12 others in fray.

With Congress retaining Rohtak, the party position in the state remains the same as in 2004 — the Congress with nine seats and the BJP with one.

Deepinder has got a share of 3,55,230 votes as against 3,24,235 votes which were secured by Hooda senior over a year back. The son surpassed his father’s record even though the polling percentage was only around 50 per cent of the 10.65 lakh voters as compared to the 67 per cent polling in 2004.