Kingmaker In 2019, What Led To Dushyant Chautala And JJP’s Wipeout In Haryana Elections This Year?

The Jannanayak Janta Party (JJP) has been completely eliminated in the Haryana electoral battle this time, five years after the party showed a promising beginning. Dushyant Chautala, the former deputy chief minister and sitting MLA of Uchana Kalan constituency, suffered a humiliating defeat after he fell to the fifth position in the electoral race after the 13th round of vote counting.

The seat went to BJP's Devender Chatar Bhuj Attri after a close contest with Congress' Brijendra Singh, son of former Union Minister Chaudhary Birender. Attri won by narrow margin of 32 votes.

JJP was formed in 2018, following the ouster of Dushyant Chautala and his brother Digvijay Chautala – the great-grandsons of Devi Lal – from the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD). Their father Ajay Chautala, who too was expelled for supporting them, also joined the new party. JJP had an impressive result in the 2019 Assembly polls, winning 10 seats and holding the power to choose between BJP and Congress to form the government.

However, the party's choice to go with the BJP did not sit well with its supporters.

In 2017, Chautala, who was still with the INLD and was the country’s youngest MP then, had attracted many eyeballs when he reached Parliament to attend the winter session riding a green-coloured tractor to protest the tweaking of certain rules relating to the Motor Vehicles Act which, he had claimed, would add to farmers’ woes. At that time, Chautala was the INLD MP from Hisar.

However, when he sided with the BJP during the farmers' agitation, Chautala faced massive public ire as well as political pressure. Despite his trying to make amends by clarifying that the Centre should talk to the farmers and resolve the issue, the party lost substantial support.

The BJP-JJP alliance fell apart in March this year after the saffron party effected a change in its leadership, replacing Manohar Lal Khattar as chief minister with Nayab Singh Saini.

JJP’s erosion on the ground started becoming clear in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, where the party fielded candidates on all 10 seats but could not win even one. The candidates faced severe drubbing, losing their security deposits.

Ahead of the Assembly polls, JJP forged an alliance with Chandrashekhar Azad’s Azad Samaj Party (ASP) to consolidate Jat-Dalit votes but this also did not work in their favour.

Going by the results, it appears that the JJP may have faced the brunt of the anti-incumbency factor prevalent on the ground, while its ally ASP failed to open an account. It remains to be seen how the party takes this forward in future poll battles.