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BJP’s Sweeping Electoral Victory in Haryana
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s sweeping victory in Haryana in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections has highlighted the changing nature of politics in the state. The BJP overshadowed the regional parties which used to be its coalition partners in past elections. Dynastic politics which was one of the main features of Haryana politics was rendered ineffective as the BJP was accepted across various socio-demographic indicators.
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) massive electoral victory in Haryana is important from various perspectives. First, it has changed the existing party dynamics in the state. Unlike other states of the Hindi heartland, the BJP could not make an easy entry in Haryana. It remained a junior partner to the regional parties such as the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC), and Haryana Vikas Party (HVP). These regional parties played an important role in the state politics until the past Lok Sabha and assembly elections of 2014 (Kumar 2010: 19).
The competition in the state somehow remained bipolar as the BJP allied with certain state parties and the Indian National Congress (INC) with other regional parties. But, in this election, it was a multi-cornered contest and no party or alliance managed to win a seat against the BJP. The biggest setback in this election was for the INLD, a strong regional party that was part of the National Democratic Alliance in past elections. One clear explanation for the rout of INLD was the split within the party and the formation of Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) by the grandsons of Om Prakash Chautala, Dushyant Singh Chautala and Digvijay Singh Chautala. The JJP successfully infiltrated into the traditional support base of the INLD in alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
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