Winning Gurugram LS seat has always been a tricky proposition for candidates
Gurugram: From 1971 to 2004 Gurugram then Gurgaon used to come under Mahendargarh Lok Sabha seat. After the creation of the Haryana state in 1966, Mahendargarh Lok Sabha seat first voted for Rao Birendra Singh father of present MP Rao Inderjit Singh in 1971. Hailing from Rewari, Rao Birender Singh had already proved his credentials of being one of the tallest leaders even when Haryana was a part of Punjab. He also served as a Chief Minister of Haryana for some time.
Even though Rao Birender Singh and his son have had a formidable record in winning the Ahirwal belt maximum number of times it is not that they have been defeated. After the emergency, the Rao Birender Singh of Congress was defeated by lawyer Manohar Lal Saini from Janata Party. Saini, however, was defeated again by Rao Birender Singh in 1980 elections. The victorious reign of Rao Birender Singh carried on with huge wins in 1984 and 1989 elections.
The tides for Rao Birender Singh changed in 1991 elections when he was defeated by Colonel Ram Singh, a retired Army soldier who had represented India in 1962 and 1965 war with China and Pakistan respectively.
Colonel Singh was instrumental in ensuring BJP win for the first time in Gurgaon belt when he again defeated Rao Birender Singh in 1996 General elections. This is for the last time Rao Birender Singh contested in the General elections. In1998 his son Rao Inderjit Singh contested from Congress and won. His victory was shortlived as in 1999 he was defeated by Sudha Yadav from BJP who besides being a tall leader of the saffron party is also the widow of Sukhbir Singh Yadav, a martyr in Kargil war. In 2004 Rao Inderjit defeated Sugdh Yadav and from thereon he has been winning the Gurgaon Lok Sabha seat regularly from Congress and BJP seats.
With the addition of Mewat belt in 2009, the complexity of Gurugram Lok Sabha seat has only increased. The Ahirs form the maximum percentage of voters at 17 per cent which is then followed by Meo Muslims at 13 per cent, the other prominent voters in the belt are Jats, Punjabis, Brahmins, Baniyas and Gurjars. The significance of Gurgaon Lok Sabha seat can be gauged from the fact that in 2014 there were four major parties namely BJP, INLD, AAP and Congress that were in the fray. In this Rao Inderjit won handsomely with 6,44,780 with 48 per cent of votes. Zakir Hussain a prominent leader from Mewat came in second with 28 per cent of votes having a total of 3,70,058 votes.
