NEW DELHI Ignoring farmers’ demands for larger corporate interests has caused serious upheaval in BJP’s electoral base, if Haryana local body election results are any indication to go by. The elections, held Sunday, to self-govt institutions had come just one year after BJP came to power and the state’s BJP-JJP coalition lost its major corporations of Ambala and Sonipath. The defeat is particularly telling, given that, BJP went to great extents to claim that farmers’ protests would not affect its voters’ base.
The Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chauthala’s JJP fared particularly poor in the elections. The party simply crumbled in its traditional fortresses of Hisar, Ulkan, Ravari, and Daruhera.
In the election, Sonipath’s Congress mayor won with a lead of 14,000 votes. Sonipath is located next to Sighuvin, where countless farmers are camped in protest.
Strong sentiments against the new farm laws culminated in Congress’s win, the party said. In Ambala, the mayor post was won by Haryana Javsechana party. The party leader Vinod Sarma’s wife Shaktirani grabbed the seat with a lead of 8000 votes.
