Haryana Cong chief, Assembly speaker among key losers in state elections

The Haryana Congress chief, assembly speaker and a former deputy chief minister were among prominent leaders who lost their seats in the Haryana assembly polls.

Indian National Lok Dal leader Abhay Singh Chautala and BJP's Bhavya Bishnoi were also among noteworthy names who lost.

The BJP, which emerged victorious after results were declared on Tuesday, is set to form the government for a third straight time, bucking anti-incumbency and overcoming the setback in Lok Sabha polls.

The BJP won 48 seats while the Congress won 36 seats and was leading in one seat, according to the Election Commission.

Haryana Congress chief Udai Bhan lost from the Hodal seat to BJP candidate Harinder Singh, while Haryana Vidhan Sabha speaker Gian Chand Gupta lost to Congress's Chander Mohan from the Panchkula seat.

Former Haryana deputy chief minister and Jannayak Janta Party leader Dushyant Chautala and Congress party's Brijendra Singh lost from Uchana Kalan seat.

INLD's Abhay Chautala lost his stronghold Ellenabad assembly segment.

Abhay and Dushyant are the grandson and great grandson of former deputy prime minister Devi Lal, respectively.

BJP's Bhavya Bishnoi lost the Adampur assembly segment to Congress candidate Chander Prakash. Bishnoi, the grandson of former chief minister Bhajan Lal, had won the seat in 2022 Adampur bypolls. The seat was previously represented by his father Kuldeep Bishnoi and grandfather Bhajan Lal.

Other key losers include former Haryana BJP chief and BJP's Badli nominee O P Dhankar, former Haryana finance minister and BJP candidate Captain Abhimanyu, INLD's Digvijay Chautala and independent candidate Ranjit Chautala.

Apart from this, eight out of 10 ministers under the Nayab Singh Saini government also lost the elections. They included Aseem Goel, Subhash Sudha and Kanwar Pal.