Haryana elections: CM Nayab Saini wins from Ladwa; BJP set for hattrick

Haryana Assembly election results: Nayab Saini was appointed as the CM of Haryana in March after Manohar Lal Khattar stepped down from his position to contest the Lok Sabha elections in June

Haryana Assembly elections: Bharatiya Janata Party CM Nayab Singh Saini has proved his mettle from Ladwa constituency by winning the elections by a margin of more than 16,000 votes. Saini, who was elected during the Karnal by-polls earlier this year, will return as the CM of Haryana, if the BJP wins the polls.

While the early counting trends appeared in line with the exit poll predictions, showing a comfortable majority for the Congress, the party was left stunned by noon when the trends experienced a major reversal.

At of 4:30 pm, the BJP has won 27 seats and is leading at 22. Meawhile, the Congress has won 25 seats and is leading at 11. Two independent candidates, including India's richest woman Savitri Jindal, have also secured victory. 

A party needs 45 seat marks to form a government in the 90-member Haryana Assembly. Saini was appointed as the CM of Haryana in March after Khattar stepped from his position to contest the Lok Sabha elections in June. He won as an MP from his stronghold Karnal, while Saini took over the Karnala Assembly constituency.

Why did Nayab Saini fight from Ladwa instead of Karnal?

According to an earlier report by the Indian Express, Saini wanted to contest from Karnal seat in the polls. However, he was ‘reluctantly’ fielded from Ladwa, being considered the saffron party’s safest bet. In the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP won 47.14 per cent of the vote in the Ladwa Assembly segment of the Kurukshetra constituency. While this is lower than the 58.5 per cent it achieved in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, it is a significant improvement over the 32.7 per cent it received in the 2019 Assembly elections.

Before becoming the CM, Saini was the BJP’s Haryana unit president. He has also been an MP from Kurukshetra seat. From Ladwa, the Congress fielded Mewa Singh, the incumbent MLA who won the 2019 polls by a narrow margin of 12,637 votes.