And the WINNERS are.......

Hisar is a small town in Haryana which rarely find itself in news in broader scenario of Indian politics. But for past one month, This dusty and humid town  bordering Rajasthan constantly gained the attention of political observers. By election for parliamentary seat was held on 13th October necessitated due to death of Ex. CM and former union minister Bhajan Lal. As expected, Kuldeep Bishnoi (Son of Bhajan Lal) trounced Ajay Chautala (Son of another former CM Om  Prakash Chautala) although by a small margin of 6323. There was always a tought fight between Ajay Chautala & Kuldeep Bishnoi and Congress was already tipped  to be on third position. But the matter of surprise was that Congress candidate Jai Prakash (JP) lost his security deposit. Although he has frequently  swithced his loyalities to different parties at different times, Jai Prakash (Who is a former union minister, 3 times MP from same constituency and an former MLA as well) was never considered a weak candidate. People who are unaware of equations of Haryana Politics might contribute his defeat to 'ANNA' factor,  but truth is something else. There are a lot of factors which accounted for such a big loss of Congress party in this historical town. Below are some facts which pushed JP and Congress party in such position.

• Whether somebody agrees or not, But CASTE is the biggest parameter in India for electorates to choose the representative of their constituency. Haryana is no different and here also the caste factor finds itself enjoying the top slot. This election also saw the consolidation of dominant Jat voters in favor  of Ajay Chautala (Although JP also belongs to same community) and Non - Jats throwing their weights behind flamboyant Kuldeep Bishnoi. Traditionally the Jats of  this bagri belt always had their inclination for Devi Lal's family but for past one decade their vote bank shifted to Congress party. But lack of development and increasing count of jobless youths in Hisar (As compare to CM's strong hold of Rohtak and Sonepat) have changed their mind again in favour of Ajay Chautala. For consolidation of Non - Jat vote bank in his favour, Kuldeep Bishnoi can owe to a number of factors. His father was branded as the tallest and  most acceptable Non - Jat leader and had enjoyed a good rapport among various communities. The violence against dalits in Mirch pur village by dominant caste members (Whatever be the reason) had also resulted favoring Kuldeep. BJP as the new ally of his party had also contributed in swinging the upper caste Non - Jat vote bank in his favor.
• 7 years of anti-incumbency factor both at state and central level, the revelations of scams, the increasing prices of petrol and house hold items have also made the voters to dump the ruling party's candidate. 
• During Bhajan Lal's tenure as CM, Hisar had seen the most progressive phase for the district. His demise created a sympathy wave in favor of Kuldeep  Bishnoi. 
• BJP has never been a key player in Haryana's Politics. But it always have enjoyed the support in urban areas. Election result also shows the urban voters hugely favored HJC candidate indicating BJP's impact in his victory.
• Team ANNA also camped against congress party in Hisar. Although it didn't create much (any) influence in mind of rural population, It certainly impacted  the educated urban voters by adding fuel to already burning fire. 
• Infighting within Congress party may also be responsible for the fate of Jai Prakash. Congress has fared very badly in constituency of Birender Singh (Uchana Kalan) and Sampat Singh (Nalwa) who enjoys a considerable influence among voters of this area. Birender Singh (Who has history for taking on CM) sought ticket for his IAS son and Sampat Singh for himself. 

In all possible cases, JP and congress party found themselves at receiving end. Although the result didn't impact the strength of congress party in any way but the ruling party have got a number of reasons to worry for. Despite having six MLAs in constituency, their candidate slipped to third position in all of nine assembley segments. They need to do introspection to find the obvious reasons for their defeat and work on them to avoid this kind of lose in future. Technically Kuldeep Bishnoi won the seat, but the mighty Chautalas also found various reasons to cheer for.  They apparently have got back the confidence of people of powerful community which may work in their favor in next election.