Congress wins bypoll in Haryana as BJP's Yogeshwar Dutt loses for 2nd time from Baroda

Ace wrestler and BJP leader Yogeshwar Dutt on Tuesday suffered a second consecutive election defeat after Congress' Indu Raj Narwal trounced him in the Baroda constituency of Haryana. While the Congress candidate secured 60636 votes, the Olympic medalist lost by a margin of 10,566 votes. The by-election to the Baroda seat was necessitated by the demise of Congress' Krishna Hooda, who had won the seat in 2009, 2014 and 2019. 

In the 2019 Haryana Assembly election, Dutt contesting on a BJP ticket fell short by about 4,800 votes. Speaking to the media, Dutt graciously conceded his defeat in the election. Contending that he could meet the people's expectations, the BJP leader mentioned that this was the people's mandate. Mentioning that he had congratulated Narwal, the Olympic wrestler promised to work harder in future. 

Read: Bypolls 2020 Results Trends: BJP Leads In MP, Gujarat And UP; Congress Ahead In Haryana

State presidents react on poll result

Reacting to the Narwal's victory, Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee president Kumari Selja stated that the people of Baroda had given a "befitting reply" to the anti-farmer and labourer forces. She assured Baroda residents of the Congress party living up to their expectations. Moreover, she claimed that this win would lead to a "storm of change" across the country. 

On the other hand, Haryana BJP chief Om Prakash Dhankar pointed out that the Baroda seat was already with Congress. While lamenting that a great player like Yogeshwar Dutt could not reach the Assembly, he commented, "Congress will not be able to take pride on the attempts to defeat a great player. The loss of Yogeshwar Dutt is akin to the death of Abhimanyu on which the history could never take pride in, but feels guilty". 

Read: Congress Slams Haryana Govt Over Revision Of Fee Structure For Medical Education

2019 Haryana Assembly polls

The total strength of the Haryana Assembly is 90, out of which 17 seats have been reserved for SC category. For the 2019 Assembly polls, Haryana had 1.82 crore registered voters, out of which 1.7 lakh were service voters. 0.38 lakh ballot units, 0.25 lakh control units, and 0.27 lakh VVPATs will be used in the state. While the voting took place on October 21, 2019, the results were declared on October 24, 2019. 

While BJP which enjoyed a majority of its own could win only 40 seats, Congress emerged as the single-largest party with 31 seats. On the other hand, JJP emerged as the kingmaker with 10 seats. Subsequently, BJP and JJP formed a post-poll alliance paving way for BJP's Manohar Lal Khattar and JJP's Dushyant Chautala to be sworn in as the Haryana Chief Minister and Deputy CM respectively. 

Read: Bihar Election Results 2020 LIVE Updates: EC Declares Result Of 8 Seats, NDA Wins 5