Hry: BJP wins Jind bypoll
Congress is 3rd, INLD gets less than 3,500 votes;
Jind (Har): Ruling BJP on Thursday won the high-stakes Jind bypoll, which also saw the newly floated JJP scoring convincingly higher than the parent party INLD and Congress candidate Randeep Singh Surjewala settling for the third spot.
BJP nominee Krishan Middha (48) wrested the seat from the main opposition Indian National Lok Dal, forcing it to the fifth place.
The Jannayak Janata Party, which broke away from the INLD just weeks ago following a feud in the Chautala family, put up a spirited fight and finished second.
The BJP candidate defeated JJP's Digvijay Singh Chautala (27) by 12,935 votes, Jind Deputy Commissioner-cum-Returning Officer Amit Khatri said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked the people of Jind for voting for the BJP. This is a seat where the Party has never won before, he tweeted.
The bypoll was ordered after the death of Middha's father, INLD's Hari Chand Middha. Out of 1,30,828 votes polled, Middha secured 50,556 against Digvijay Chautala's 37,631.Randeep Singh Surjewal, a spokesperson for the Congress and its MLA from Kaithal in Haryana, got 22,740 votes.
At fifth place, INLD candidate Umed Singh Redhu ended up not only behind the JJP but also trailed another new outfit the Loktantra Suraksha Party (LSP) led by BJP's rebel MP Raj Kumar Saini. Redhu managed just 3,454 votes and forfeited his security deposit. LSP candidate Vinod Ashri polled 13,582 votes.
The JJP was floated last month by jailed leader Ajay Singh Chautala, following a feud with his brother Abhay Chautala. The JJP candidate is Ajay Chautala son and a grandson of Om Prakash Chautala.
The winning BJP candidate Krishan Middha is an Ayurvedic doctor and belongs to the Punjabi community. The Congress, the JJP and the INLD had put up candidates from the Jat community. The victory triggered celebrations in the Bharatiya Janata Party camp, already upbeat after securing wins recently in the mayoral polls in five Haryana cities.