Haryana Polls 2024: How dynasts across party lines rule high-stakes electoral battle. 5 key points | Mint

The curtains will come down on the high-decibel campaign by leaders of various political parties to woo the electorate in Haryana today, October 3.

The 90 seats of the Haryana assembly go to the polls on in a single phase on October 5. The results will be declared on October 8.

With over 1000 candidates in the fray this election, dynasts clearly continue to remain an inseparable feature of Haryana politics. Be it Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress, the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) or the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) – the tradition of fielding scions of political families has thrived across political lines in Haryana.

These dynasts exist beyond the three prominent political families of three former chief ministers—Devi Lal, Bansi Lal, and Bhajan Lal.

Here is a look at how the Haryana election is replete with with several dozen candidates owing their political standing to influential families.

The Devi Lal Clan

The most prominent dynasts in Haryana come from the family of Chaudhary Devi Lal, the former deputy prime minister who also served as chief minister of Haryana two times and founded the INLD.

At least 7 members from families of four sons of Devi Lal, who passed away in 2001, are in the fray for the 2024 elections. In some cases, the relatives are pitted against each other.

Devi Lal’s son and former five-term chief minister Om Prakash Chautala is unwell. His other son, Ranjit Chautala, is an independent candidate from the family stronghold of Rania’s seat. He faces Arjun Chautala, contesting on INLD ticket in Rania. Arjun is the younger son of Devi Lal’s grandson, Abhay Chautala.

Om Prakash Chautala’s other son Abhay Chautala is an INLD candidate from the Ellenabad seat, a party stronghold since 2000. Abhay won the seat in 2010, and his father, Om Prakash Chautala, won in 2009.

Ajay Singh Chautala is Om Prakash Chautala’s third son. Ajay’s son, Dushyant Chautala, is in the fray from the Uchana Kalan seat as a JJP candidate. Dushyant is the former deputy chief minister of Haryana. Dushyant’s brother, Digvijay Singh Chautala, is contesting from the Dabwali seat, and their mother, Naina Chautala, from the Bhadara seat as JJP nominees.

Digvijay is contesting the Dabwali seat against his uncles, Aditya Devi Lal (INLD) and Amit Sihag (Congress).

The Bansi Lal family

Bansi Lal’s granddaughter, Shruti Choudhry (BJP) and his grandson, Anirudh Chaudhary (Congress), are contesting against each other in the Tosham seat of Bhiwani. Shruti is the daughter of Bansi Lal’s son, late Surender Singh and BJP Rajya Sabha MP, Kiran Choudhry. Kiran and her daughter switched to BJP from the Congress in June this year.

Anirudh is the son of Bansi Lal’s elder son, Ranbir Mahendra. 

Bansi Lal’s son-in-law, Somvir Singh, is a Congress candidate contesting from the Badhra seat adjoining Tosham.

The Bhajan Lal

Bhajan Lal’s grandson, Bhavya Bishnoi, is contesting from the Adampur seat as a BJP candidate, while his uncle, Chander Mohan Bishnoi, is contesting from Panchkula as a Congress candidate. Bhavya is the son of Bhajan Lal’s younger son, Kuldeep Bishnoi. 

Chander Mohan, former deputy chief minister of Haryana, is Kuldeep’s elder brother. Bhajan Lal’s nephew, Dura Ram is a BJP candidate from the Fatehabad seat.

The BJP’s dynasts

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has often rallied against dynasty politics, but even his party, the BJP, has accommodated the scions of political families in Haryana.

Union Minister Rao Inderjit Singh‘s daughter, Arti Singh Rao, is a BJP candidate for the Ateli seat. Shakti Rani Sharma, the mother of Rajya Sabha MP Kartikey Sharma, is the BJP nominee from Kalka. Her husband Venod Sharma was part of the former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s cabinet.

The BJP has fielded its leader Kartar Singh Bhadana’s son, Manmohan Bhadana, from the Samalkha seat. Santosh Chauhan Sarwan, daughter of former Congress minister Govardhan Chauhan, is a BJP candidate from Mulana.

However, the saffron party did not field Savitri Jindal, the mother of BJP Kurukshetra MP Naveen Jindal, from the Hisar seat. Savitri, the richest woman in India, is contesting from Hisar as an independent candidate.

The case of Congress

The list of dynasts in the Congress party is long. Party’s Ambala MP Varun Chaudhary’s wife, Pooja Chaudhary is a candidate from Mulana.

Congress Rajya Sabha MP Randeep Singh Surjewala’s son, Aditya Surjewala has been given the ticket from Kaithal. Randeep father, Shamsher Singh Surjewala, was a four-time Congress MLA and a former minister. 

Congress leader and Hisar MP Jai Parkash’s son Vikas Saharan is contesting from the Kalayat seat.

Brijendra Singh  who is the son of former Union minister, Birender Singh, is contesting from Uchana Kalan.

Mandeep Chatha, son of former minister Harmohinder Singh Chatha, is contesting from Pehowa, while Chiranjeevi Rao, who is the son of the former minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav, is contesting from Rewari seat.