INLD wins Haryana’s Ellenabad by-election

ELLENABAD - Abhey Singh Chautala of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) Saturday won the crucial by-election for the Ellenabad assembly seat in Haryana.

Abhey, younger son of INLD president and former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala, won the seat by 6,227 votes over his Congress rival Bharat Singh Beniwal.

However, his victory margin was lower than that of his father just three months ago. Om Prakash Chautala had won this seat by 16,400 votes in the Oct 13 assembly election last year. He vacated the seat in November as he was elected from another assembly seat, Uchana Kalan.

“This win has proved that people of Haryana are still in favour of INLD leaders. This is an encouraging victory for us,” a senior INLD member told reporters after the announcement of results.

Of the 15 candidates in the fray, 11 were independents.

Other major parties like the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) had not fielded candidates for this by-election in view of the direct contest between the Congress and the INLD in this western Haryana constituency.

Nearly 89 percent voters turned up to cast their votes in the by-elections Wednesday.