Rohtak (Haryana): The Congress was leading in five of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana, the BJP in four and the AAP in one on Tuesday, according to Election Commission trends. Indian National Congress candidate Deependra Hooda was leading against his nearest rival BJP candidate Arvinf Kumar Sharma by over 1,28,000 votes.
Counting of votes began at 8 am at 91 designated centres amid tight security, officials said. More than 10,000 police personnel have been deployed to ensure smooth operations at the counting centres.
Arvind Sharma had defeated Deependra Singh Hooda by about 7,000 votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Deependra Hooda has been MP from Rohtak Lok Sabha constituency three times. From 2005 to 2014, he was the MP of Rohtak for three consecutive terms. He is the third generation politician of his family. Deepender Singh Hooda is the son of former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupendra Singh Hooda. Deependra is currently a Rajya Sabha MP.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won seven Lok Sabha seats it had contested, losing only in Rohtak. The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) had won two seats while the Congress won from Rohtak.
After failing to break the Congress’ grip on Rohtak at that time, the BJP stepped up its activities in the region in a bid to weaken the Hooda family stronghold and the Congress. The BJP’s state headquarters is also based in Rohtak.
In the 2019 general elections, the BJP swept Haryana, winning all 10 seats and smashing what were considered as “bastions” of prominent political families. The saffron party secured victory in Rohtak — the Hooda family citadel where incumbent Deepender Singh Hooda suffered defeat. The BJP also defeated veteran leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who had entered the fray from Sonipat.
2024 polls: The total number of registered voters in this constituency in 2024 polls was 1889844, and the seat saw a voting turnout of 65.68% (1241201 total count of votes), according to the Election Commission’s data. The seat went to polls in phase 6 on May 25, 2024.
In the 2019 LS Polls, Arvind Kumar Sharma won from Rohtak, polling 573,845 votes, comprising 47.01% of the total number of votes polled. He defeated the incumbent Deepender Singh Hooda by a narrow margin of 7,503 votes. In 2014, Hooda had won from this seat, polling 490,063 votes (46.93%) and defeating Om Parkash Dhankar of BJP by a margin of 1,70,627 votes.
