Regional parties face existential crisis

Chandigarh: The results of parliamentary elections in Haryana have come as the doom of regional parties, which used to enjoy massive clout in the state till recently. Not a single regional party of the state could open their account this time and were not even seen in fight on nine seats.
Except Hisar, where Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) leader Dushyant Chautala managed to save his security deposits, candidates of all regional parties, including Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), lost their deposits.INLD, which had two MPs in and was runner up on other seats in the 2014 parliamentary elections, was seen struggling to get fourth or fifth position at many places this time.
There were three main regional parties in Haryana in fray this time: INLD, JJP and outgoing Kurukshetra MP, Raj Kumar Saini’s Loktantrik Suraksha Party (LSP), which had contested in alliance with BSP.
The INLD, however, has faced the most humiliating defeat among them. Only one INLD candidate and outgoing MP Charanjit Singh Rori could reach near the figure of one lakh votes in his Sirsa (reserved) constituency. Senior INLD leader Abhay Chautala’s son Arjun, who was contesting from Kurukshetra, finished at fifth place. No other INLD candidate could cross cross even 20,000 votes mark.
Newly carved out, JJP, which came into existence after split in INLD, also failed to open its account. JJP leader and outgoing Hisar MP Dushyant Chautala though managed to save his deposits but faced defeat by huge margin of more than three lakh votes. His brother Digvijay Chautal, not only lost his deposits but also was seen struggling to touch the figure of 50,000 votes.
Overall, JJP candidates performed better than INLD candidates. JJP’s Bhiwani-Mahindergarh candidate Swati Yadav and Sirsa candidate Nirmal Singh touched the figure of 90,000 votes.
Saini’s LSP, which had contested in alliance with BSP, performed better than INLD and JJP on some places, including Ambala, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Gurgaon and Sonipat.
Dushyant said that the parliamentary results cannot be seen as verdict against the regional parties. He claimed that in the Jind byelection his party had already proved that they could become an alternate to the Congress against BJP in Haryana. He claimed that JJP would emerge as a strong force in coming state assembly polls.
INLD general secretary R S Chaudhary said that only regional parties could meet the needs and aspirations of the people of the state. “These are small setbacks due to some reasons but it does not mean that regional parties would be finished completely. In the past, we have lost many times and later make a comeback with good results,” Chaudhary added.