Rajasthan-Haryana polls: Congress leads in Ramgarh lags behind in Jind

New Delhi: Jind and Ramgarh bypolls results are to be declared on Thursday. As per current records, Congress candidate Randeep Singh Surjewala is lagging behind in Jind. His opponent and Jannayak Janata Party Digvijay Chautala is leading by over 7,000 votes.

In a major setback for the Congress party ahead of Lok Sabha elections this year, party's candidate Randeep Surjewala for bypoll on Haryana's Jind assembly seat was trailing after the round-2 of counting of votes.

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Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) candidate Digvijay Chautala has taken lead after completion of second round of counting. He has bagged 7,892 votes so far. BJP’s Krishan Middha (6,554 votes) and Congress’ Randeep Singh Surjewala (3,923 votes). Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) nominee Krishan Middha is at fourth position with 1,365 votes.

However in Ramgarh , Congress is doing fairly well. After 13 rounds, Congress candidate Shafia Khan's lead rose to over 16000 votes.

The results of assembly election in Rajasthan's Ramgarh and bypoll in Haryana's Jind are likely to be read as important indicators ahead of the Lok Sabha election, due by May. The Congress candidate in Ramgarh, Saafiya Zubair, is leading by 60,283 votes. The stakes are high for both the ruling BJP, Congress in these polls, though other parties like the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Rajasthan and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) in Haryana are also in the contest.

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All the four major political parties — BJP, Congress, INLD and JJP are looking to win the Jind by-election and set the tone for the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in Haryana. The election was held on January 28 with nearly 76% of the 1.72 lakh voters exercising their franchise.

The by-election is a test for all the four major parties in the fray – the ruling BJP led by Manohar Lal Khattar, Congress, Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and the newly launched Jannayak Janata Party (JJP). While Congress has nominated its sitting Kaithal MLA Randeep Singh Surjewala, the BJP has given ticket to Krishan Middha from here. Umed Singh is INLD’s candidate and the JJP has nominated Digvijay Chautala. The election was necessitated after the death of two-time INLD legislator Hari Chand Middha, whose son is in the fray on a BJP ticket.

These elections will decide the fate of political parties in the national elections and will surely determine the current mood of the nation.

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