With three political heavyweights locked in a triangular contest, the battle for Hisar Lok Sabha seat has turned fierce, but ruling Congress worries have increased as it has to fight not only its opponents but also tackle Team Hazare's campaign against it.
Hisar has turned out to be a double edged sword for Team Anna. While it can now take credit for the Congress' rout in Hisar, its stance in the bypoll has divided its own core team, says Neerja Chowdhury.
The battle for Hisar has 40 candidates, but the real fight is between the big three -- Kuldeep Bishnoi of the Haryana Janhit Congress, Ajay Chautala of the Indian National Lok Dal and former MP Jai Prakash of the Congress.
Haryana Janhit Congress chief Kuldeep Bishnoi, who was supported by the Bharatiya Janata Party, won the Hisar by-polls defeating Indian National Lok Dal 's Ajay Chautala. Congress' Jai Prakash was in the third position.
Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal, Randeep Surjewala and Jairam Ramesh of the Congress and Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut were among the 16 candidates elected to the Rajya Sabha from four states where polling was held on Friday after tussle over cross voting and alleged breach of election rules delayed the counting by around eight hours in Maharashtra and Haryana.
Here is the lowdown of the each state and parties.
With this development, Bhajan Lal's son Kuldeep Bishnoi, with just two MLAs on his side, stands isolated. He was expected to join the Congress, but the latest development has taken the wind out of his sails
Congress MP Kuldeep Bishnoi, son of former Haryana chief minister Bhajan Lal, and rebel Samajwadi Party MP Jaiprakash Rawat have been disqualified from the Lok Sabha under the anti-defection law.
After getting feelers from the Congress, Haryana Janhit Congress, which won six seats in the recent assembly elections in the state, has decided to be part of the next government in the state."At the first meeting of the Members of Legislative Assembly (after the results were announced), we have decided not to sit in the Opposition. We will be part of the government to work for the people of Haryana," HJC leader Kuldeep Bishnoi said.
Former chief minister Bhajan Lal of the newly-floated Haryana Janhit Congress won the Adampur seat for a record 10th time while the Congress retained both the Indri and Gohana seats.
You feel sad when you see Sonia reading speeches prepared by Congress veterans like Moti Lal Vohra and Digvijay Singh. She apparently has no personal feelings for the country and its people.
Capping two-and-half years of strained ties since he was ignored by the Congress high command for chief ministership in Haryana, the party's veteran leader Bhajan Lal and his son Kuldeep Bishnoi on Sunday quit the party, attacking leader Sonia Gandhi and floated a new outfit.
Parliamentarians and legislators across the country voted on Monday to elect India's 15th president, choosing between opposition pick Yashwant Sinha and National Democratic Alliance nominee Droupadi Murmu who is favoured to win the battle to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Polling for 16 Rajya Sabha seats in four states will be held on Friday amid allegations of attempts at horse-trading by rival parties which have corralled their MLAs in hotels and scenic resorts, prompting the Election Commission to appoint special observers and order videography of the entire exercise.
The fate of 1,351 candidates will be sealed by 1.63 crore voters in high-stakes multi-cornered contest in Haryana which goes to polls on Wednesday with top guns including the kin of the three famous 'Lals' battling it out in the state.
While 15 candidates are in the fray from this Jat-dominated constituency that has a voter strength of over 1.60 lakh, the main contest is seen between Phogat and 51-year-old Bishnoi.
Scindia's departure from the Congress also raises question marks about delayed decision-making and status quo in the Congress.
'Political convenience' and 'personal ambition' played a major part in Scindia's decision to the Congress, said a party leader.
Manohar Lal Khattar took oath as Haryana chief minister for the second time on Sunday and will lead the Bharatiya Janata Party-Jannayak Janta Party coalition government in the state. JJP leader Dushyant Chautala took oath as the deputy chief minister.
The 31-year-old will have to do the balancing act between his anti-BJP support base and work with the Khattar-led dispensation for smooth governance.
He has also convened the first meeting of the extended CWC on July 22 to chalk out the party's future strategy.
Jailed Indian National Lok Dal leader Ajay Chautala's elder son Dushyant figured in the list of candidates declared by the party for all the ten Lok Sabha seats in Haryana.
The Baharatiya Janata Party has propelled to power in Haryana by a dramatic surge in vote share that saw its tally zooming from 4 to 47 in the 90-member House in the backdrop of a Modi wave.
Maharashtra registered over 64 per cent voter turnout while a record 76 pc polling in Haryana, which witnessed stray incidents of violence, in the first eight hours of polling on Wednesday in the riveting contest to elect assemblies in the two states.
In Maharashtra, where the 'Mahayuti' alliance of BJP, Shiv Sena and smaller parties is against the 'Maha-agadhi' led by the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party whereas the ruling BJP is locked in a contest with the opposition Congress and the fledgling Jannayak Janata Party for the 90 assembly seats in Haryana.
The final figure of polling could increase and it will be available on Tuesday, officials said.
Political observers feel that the outcome of the elections weighs in favour of the BJP which had won a massive mandate in the Lok Sabha elections, held earlier this year.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday came under fresh attack from its ally Shiv Sena, which slammed it for creating a "trust deficit" by hobnobbing with the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena in the run-up to the polls and asked it to mend its ways and follow the "alliance dharma".
With neither the Bharatiya Janata Party nor the Shiv Sena willing to yield ground on the number of Assembly seats they want to contest, the alliance between them seems to be on the brink.
Be it Assam, Haryana or Delhi, the Congress is facing one crisis after another regarding its Rajya Sabha nominations, reports Renu Mittal.
'The Congress has become two distinct parties, one of the durbar, the other of the field and if they keep drifting apart, death is a certainty,' says Shekhar Gupta.
From President Pranab Mukherjee's son Abhijit to Rahul and Varun Gandhi, at least 50 parliamentary constituencies will be contested by 'sons and daughters' of politicians of various parties during the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
In the absence of a conducive environment, India should not show any "hurry" to hold talks with Pakistan when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visits New York later this month, BJP president Rajnath Singh said.
As Maharashtra and Haryana show, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah completely control the BJP and are taking it to the next level ruthlessly, without carrying forward any past baggage.
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