Krishan Lal Middha triumphs in Haryana's Jind assembly by-poll, BJP's first ever win in past 52 years

BJP's Krishan Lal Middha on Thursday won Haryana's high-stakes Jind assembly by-poll by pocketing 50,566 votes. It is the BJP's first ever win in Jind assembly seat in the past 52 years.

Middha wrested the seat from the INLD by a margin of 12,935 votes. Newly floated Jannayak Janata Party's (JJP) Digvijay Singh Chautala garnered 37,631 votes. Congress' Randeep Singh Surjewala got 22,740 votes. INLD's Umedh Singh Redhu came to poor fourth.

The result of Jind by-poll, for which the counting of votes began on Thursday at 8 am amid tight security, came as a pleasant surprise for Middha, who surpassed and set a new record of getting over 50,000 votes.

His father Dr Hari Chand Middha, whose death necessitated the by-poll, had won the last assembly poll in 2014 on the INLD ticket and had bagged just 31,631 votes. BJP's Surinder Singh Barwala had bagged 29,374 votes.

Dr Middha had won the seat in 2009 Assembly poll too. In the first Assembly poll held in 1967, the Congress' Daya Krishan had won the seat by getting 26,089 votes.

Reacting to the result of Jind assembly by-poll, an upbeat Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar told reporters in Chandigarh that the victory was a stamp on the good works done by his government in the past over four years in the state. "People have voted for development," he said.

Middha, on his part, thanked everyone for his victory. "I would like to thank everyone who supported the party and me. It is their victory. There were big leaders in the contest as well, but we have defeated them too. We will follow the schemes launched by Prime Minister Modi and take them forward," he told reporters.

He also thanked Chief Minister Khattar for his victory. "People were impressed by the works of Chief Minister Khattar," he said. On the defeat of Surjewala, he said: "This is a big victory as in the poll there were some big faces. This is not a small win."

Accepting defeat, Surjewala, Congress' national spokesperson and also a sitting MLA from Kaithal, told media persons that Chief Minister Khattar and newly elected MLA Middha should fulfill the dreams of Jind's people.

"Chief Minister Khattar and Krishna Middha will fulfill the dreams of the people of Jind. I was given a responsibility by the party which I fulfilled to the best of my abilities. I congratulate Krishna Middha on his victory," he said.

When asked to comment on the claims of his workers about the alleged manipulation of electronic voting machines (EVMs), Surjewala said: "I agree that there were some issues related to EVMs. Many of EVMs were blanks and the number on some EVMs was also manipulated."

Digvijay Chautala of JJP said that he was happy with the love and affection he got from the people of Jind. "They have given me huge support for which I thank them," he said.

The counting of votes polled in Jind bye-election held on January 28 began on Thursday amid tight security at the multi-purpose hall of Arjun Stadium, Jind. The counting got disrupted for a while when the workers of opposition parties objected to the alleged mismatch and tampering in the numbers of EVMs. Police had to resort to even lathicharge to control the situation outside the counting hall.

Over 75.77 per cent voting had been recorded in Jind by-poll held on January 28.