LS Polls: BJP’s Krishan Pal Gurjar aiming to hold sway in Faridabad for third term

Faridabad (Haryana) [India], May 22 (ANI): Haryana’s Faridabad constituency is set to witness stiff competition between Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Krishan Pal Gurjar, Congress’ Mahendra Pratap and Jannayak Janta Party’s (JJP) Nalin Hooda on May 25 in the sixth phase of Lok Sabha polls.

While BJP’s sitting MP Kishan Pal who has been winning the Faridabad Lok Sabha constituency since 2014 is eyeing for a third term, both the Congress and JJP candidates are ready to challenge his dominance.

Krishan Pal who holds the portfolio of Minister of State of Power and Heavy Industries, won from Faridabad with a record margin of more than six lakh votes defeating Congress’ Avtar Singh Bhadana in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Such is the dominance of Krishan Pal in Faridabad that he amassed 68.8 per cent votes in 2019 leaving Bhadana at a distant second securing just 20.7 per cent votes.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Krishan Pal Gurjar won the constituency with a margin of 4,66,873 votes having a margin percentage of 41.3 since Congress’ Bhadana who contested in 2014 as well, came a distant second winning only 16.4 per cent votes.

The constituency which has seen significant improvement in the industrial and education sector reels for the lack of poor infrastructure that poses a hurdle for the overall growth in the region. Reports suggest that Faridabad suffers from rampant power cuts, poor state of roads and faulty drainage.

Earlier on Saturday, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami urged the people of Faridabad to contribute to making Narendra Modi the Prime Minister again by making BJP candidate Krishan Pal Gurjar victorious with a huge number of votes.

Dhami said that Krishan Pal Gurjar has spent a long time of his life in the service of the country and the state.

“As a Union Minister, he has taken forward many development projects for Faridabad and the country. India has progressed rapidly under the leadership of the Prime Minister. India’s respect and self-respect have increased, and India has achieved historic and new rights in many fields,” Dhami said.

Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini who expects his party to sweep the state in this election as well, said on Tuesday that people are keen to vote in favour of PM Narendra Modi.

“In the state in every region, people are following the policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. People have realised there is a corrupt INDIA bloc and only PM Modi has the ability to lead the country towards ‘Viksit Bharat’ as PM Modi addresses the plight of the poor, farmers, women and the youth. People are very keen to vote in favour of PM Narendra Modi. We are confident that we will win 10 out of 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana and one Vidhan Sabha seat in Karnal,” Saini said.

However, the Haryana BJP underwent a significant change in leadership with the party’s high command removing Manohar Lal Khattar from the post of Chief Minister in March after reports that Dushyant Chautala-led JJP which was part of the ruling government in the state, will be withdrawing its support to the Khattar government. Eventually, the JJP severed its ties with the BJP.

On May 7, amid the Lok Sabha polls, the Haryana government suffered another big jolt after three independent MLAs withdrew support from the Nayab Saini government, pushing the dispensation into a minority.

However, the BJP appeared confident of retaining power, with former chief minister Khattar claiming that several leaders of the Congress and the JJP were in touch with his party.

The Congress is fighting the election in Haryana with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), its partner in the INDIA bloc. As per the seat-sharing agreement reached by AAP and Congress, AAP will contest Kurukshetra while Congress will contest the remaining nine seats in the state.

The Lok Sabha elections for the 10 parliamentary constituencies of Haryana are going to be held in a single phase on May 25.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in the state, the BJP swept, capturing all 10 seats. In the 2014 elections, the BJP won 7 seats, while the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) won 2 seats and the Congress secured only one seat.