Akalis draw blank in Haryana polls

The Shiromani Akali Dal, which claimed to have sway over 30 assembly seats in Haryana, on Thursday failed to make a mark in the state polls.

Fighting in alliance with the Indian National Lok Dal, SAD candidates tasted defeat on all three assembly seats the Sukhbir Badal-led party contested.

SAD candidates performed poorly on Ratia and Guhla seats. Its Kulvinder Singh was on the fourth spot in Ratia and Ram Kumar came at the fifth spot in Guhla.

In the third Kalawali constituency, SAD candidate Rajinder Singh Desujodha was defeated by Congress nominee Shishpal Singh by 19,243 votes, election results showed.

BJP, with which the Akali Dal has an alliance in Punjab and Delhi, won Ratia and the newly formed Jannayak Janta Party won Guhla. Both were reserved seats.

SAD had tied up for the polls in Haryana with INLD.

The Akalis wanted to ally with the BJP in Haryana, but the alliance did not materialise.

They had accused the BJP of backtracking on its "commitment" to contest Haryana polls together. The party chief Sukhbir Badal had taken a strong exception to the induction of Akali Dal MLA Balkaur Singh from Haryana's Kalianwali seat into the BJP and called it "unethical".

Badal, during campaigning in Haryana, had even said, "The situation is changing too fast in Haryana. Those who are thinking of forming the government will sit in opposition."

Previously, SAD had contested Haryana assembly polls in alliance with INLD. However, their ties broke in 2017 following differences on the SYL canal issue.