Two seasoned politicians, Dharambir Singh, a two-time BJP Member of Parliament, and his old friend Rao Dan Singh of the Congress, are locked in a nail-biting contest from the Bhiwani-Mahendergarh parliamentary seat, which is largely dominated by Jat and Ahir voters. The JJP has fielded Rao Bahadur Singh, an ex-MLA from Nangal Choudhary, but there is a huge resentment against the party top brass. The contest is mainly between the BJP and the Congress.

The Bhiwani- Mahendergarh parliamentary constituency was created in 2008 after the Delimitation Commission of India recommended the restructuring of other Lok Sabha seats. Earlier, Bhiwani was parliamentary seat from 1977 to 2004 and after four assembly segments, Ateli, Mahendergarh, Narnaul and Nangal Choudhary of the erstwhile Mahendergarh parliamentary, were merged into major segments of Bhiwani seat in 2008, the parliamentary was changed to Bhiwani- Mahendergarh seat.

Congress candidate Shruti Choudhry, granddaughter of former Haryana chief minister Bansi Lal, won the first Lok Sabha election held in 2009 after the delimitation by defeating Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leader Ajay Singh Chautala. However, Shruti lost to Dharambir Singh of the BJP in 2014 and 2019, respectively. This time, Congress denied her ticket and fielded former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s close confidante Rao Dan Singh, a four-time MLA from Mahendergarh assembly segment. No member of the Bansi Lal family is contesting from here after 28 years. From the erstwhile Bhiwani seat, Shruti’s father Surender Singh had won twice and her grandfather Bansi Lal thrice. Surender suffered defeat in two polls and Bansi Lal lost the battle once. From 1977 to 2004, 10 MPs were elected to the Lower House from the Bhiwani seat.

Dharambir Singh is eyeing a hat-trick and Rao Dan Singh is looking to open his account in the parliamentary election.

Before switching over to the BJP from Congress in 2014, four-time MLA Dharambir Singh was a blue-eyed boy of veteran leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda and still he has good relations with him. Since 2014, senior BJP leader and Union minister Rao Inderjit Singh was the main architect behind Dharambir’s victory in the last two polls and he is expecting another charisma from the popular Ahir leader. However, Congress candidate Rao Dan Singh, who was once a close aide of Rao Inderjit Singh, is banking on the support of his mentor Hooda for making inroads into Jat voters and according to political experts, he is in a dominating position in four assembly segments dominated by Ahirs.

Disgruntled Tosham MLA Kiran Choudhry has made distance from Rao Dan Singh’s campaign but Bansi Lal’s grandson Anirudh Choudhry, son-in-law Somvir Singh, former Loharu MLA, former Badhra lawmaker Ran Singh Mann and Independent MLA Sombir Sangwan are canvassing for him in the Jat belt.

Rajender Sharma, political science professor at Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, said that both the candidates, Dharambir Singh and Rao Dan Singh, are expert in planning and contesting the elections and it is believed that the Bhiwani-Mahendergarh seat will see a fierce contest.

“Dharambir has influence in five assembly segments of Bhiwani, Charkhi Dadri districts and his outcome in four Ahir-dominated assembly segments of Mahendergarh is largely dependent on Rao Inderjit Singh and the Modi factor. However, Congress’ candidate Rao Dan Singh is getting full support from Hooda in Jat belt, and all eyes are on Tosham MLA Kiran Choudhry, who is upset after party denied ticket to her daughter. There are two types of voters, one in favour of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the other against him,” he added.

Number game

There are nearly 4 lakh Jat voters, 3 lakh Ahir, 3 lakh Scheduled Caste, 1.60 lakh Brahmin, 1 lakh Rajput and others. Jats, Ahir and Scheduled Caste voters are the key to win an election from the Bhiwani- Mahendergarh seat. The issues include ‘one rank, one pension’, water scarcity, Agniveer scheme, no big industry was set-up in the area in the last 10 years and BJP MP Dharambir Singh did not visit the villages after winning the election.

All Lals’ kin represented erstwhile Bhiwani seat

The kins of Haryana’s famous Lals had represented the erstwhile Bhiwani seat in the Lok Sabha. Bansi Lal’s younger son Surender Singh had won from Bhiwani seat in 1996 and 1998 on the Haryana Vikas Party’s ticket. However, INLD’s Ajay Chautala, son of former Haryana chief minister OP Chautala and grandson of Devi Lal, took revenge for his defeat in the 1999 Lok Sabha polls by defeating sitting MP Surender Singh. In the 2004 parliamentary polls, former CM Bhajan Lal’s younger son Kuldeep Bishnoi fought against the kins of the other two Lal’s, Surender Singh and Ajay Chautala, and won from here on Congress’ ticket.

The Bhiwani- Mahendergarh Lok Sabha seat covers a major part of Bhiwani district and the entire Charkhi Dadri and Mahendergarh districts. The parliamentary seat covers nine assembly segments- Tosham, Bhiwani, Loharu, Badhra, Badhra, Dadri, Ateli, Mahendergarh, Narnaul and Nangal Choudhary. Four constituencies of Mahendergarh district are dominated by Ahirs and remaining five constituencies of Bhiwani and Charkhi Dadri districts are dominated by Jat voters. Of nine assembly segments- five are represented by the BJP, two by Congress, one JJP (Naina Chautala from Badhra) and one Independent Sombir Sangwan from Dadri, who extended support to Congress candidate Rao Dan Singh.

Dharambir Singh said, “People will vote to elect Narendra Modi for the post of Prime Minister. The BJP scrapped article 370, and the Haryana government recruited youths in a transparent manner. The earlier Congress government was synonymous with corruption.”

Rao Dan Singh said, “Every section of society wants to uproot this government. Over 2 lakh government posts are vacant in Haryana. Criminals are giving extortion calls to businessmen. The people of Haryana are looking towards Bhupinder Singh Hooda with hope. We are fighting this election to save the Constitution and government agencies.”