Chautala Clan on Zero in Exit polls of Haryana

As the voting for the 7th and final phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha concluded on Saturday evening, different exit polls displayed their predictions for the second-longest Lok Sabha election in independent India's history. Most exit polls predicted a hat trick for Narendra Modi with even an increase in tally from 2019. For, Haryana, before the elections, different political pundits predicted a tough fight for the BJP and a striking improvement in the tally of Congress compared to the zero of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. But that doesn't seems happening according to the exit polls.

According to the average of several exit polls, the BJP is leading the tally with 6-7 seats in the state, while the Congress party is predicted to open with 2-3 seats. Shockingly, the INLD and JJP, both parties led by the Chautala clan are not even opening their tallies in the state. INLD which is led by Abhay Chautala who also contested in the triangular face-off of Kurukshetra along with Naveen Jindal of BJP and Sushil Gupta of AAP, seems losing in the contest according to the exit polls. 

Notably, Abhay Chautala was the only major face of INLD in the politics of Haryana, who contested from the party. Abhay's bete noire JJP which not so coincidentally is also his brother’s party, also seems to fail to open its tally in the Lok sabha elections even after staying in power for 5 years in Haryana. For JJP, Dushyant Chautala’s mother, Naina Chautala was the major face contesting from Hisar but according to the exit polls, she is also losing in front of the straight fight between BJP and Congress.

It is worth remembering that the regional satraps wielded strong power in Haryana since the formation of the state in 1966. Many stalwarts Like Bansi Lal, Bhajan Lal, Devi Lal, and Om Prakash Chautala formed their parties to consolidate their vote base against the strong influence of the Congress and BJP in the state. INLD which was a key player in the politics of the state just a decade before, lost its influence since both OP Chautala and Ajay Chautala were jailed in the teacher recruitment case. 

Sensing the decrease in vote base and influence under the leadership of his uncle Abhay Chautala, Dushyant Chautala formed his new party JJP in 2019 just before the Lok Sabha elections. JJP fought the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in coalition with the nascent state unit of Arvind Kejeiwal’s Aam Aadmi Party but failed to open its mark in 2019. 

Turning the tides and capturing the Jat votes from Congress and BJP, Dushyant’s JJP won 10 seats in the 2019 assembly elections held a few months after the Lok Sabha elections. JJP played the role of Kingmaker in the 2019 assembly elections and entered the politics of Haryana with a bang. But ending its coalition with the JJP just before the Lok Sabha elections, the saffron party decided to part ways and contested alone, making things troublesome for Dushyant.

Dushyant and his candidates also faced huge backlash in the villages of Haryana. In some villages, people even didn’t allow the former deputy CM to enter and promote his candidates. Now, after an intense campaign, both the parties headed by Chautala and Sons, seem closing their tally to zero in the exit polls. The “Modi juggernaut” in Haryana seems finishing the Chautalas at zero at the present moment in Haryana. The rest will be clear just in two days.