Hyderabad: Grand Trunk Road or Sadak-e-Azam crisscrosses Haryana, from Sonepat to Ambala. This 200-km-long stretch has the most beautiful lush green fields, producing the best quality Basmati rice in India. Mughals and Britishers understood the significance of this area long back.
Today, the best quality restaurants of desi and foreign origin dot the area. Politicians in Haryana realised the political significance of this area much later. Much before all this, BJP had already strengthened its grip in 2014.
Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar represents Karnal city, located on GT Road, which is dominated by Punjabi voters and it is no coincidence that Khattar belongs to the Punjabi community.
Polling for the Haryana Assembly will take place on October 21 and results will be announced on October 24. For those who were initiated into Haryana politics much later, one must know why GT road belt has become so important.
Haryana can be loosely divided into Jatland (jat caste dominated), GT Road Belt (areas adjoining the GT road), Ahirwal (area which is Yadav caste dominated) and Mewat (Muslim majority voters) region.
GT Road Belt
Basically, four Lok sabha constituencies (Ambala, Kurukshetra, Karnal, Sonipat) and 6 districts (Ambala, Kurukshetra, Panipat, Karnal, Yamunanagar, Sonipat) come under this region. Voters of these areas are considered to be important in forming the government in the state. Most of the area of this region belongs to non-Jat voters which mainly includes OBC, SC, Punjabi and Brahmin voters. BJP formed the government winning the historic numbers of MLAs from this area in 2014. The party had done well in the GT Road belt and won almost all the assembly seats which had previously been won by Congress.
BJP tightens grip
After the results of the recent Lok Sabha elections, BJP has strengthened its old fort on the GT Road belt. In the last Lok Sabha election, BJP was ahead in 31 seats out of 35 assembly seats coming in Ambala, Kurukshetra, Karnal and Sonipat parliamentary constituencies adjacent to the GT Road belt. The Congress was ahead in only two assembly seats of Sonipat - Baroda and Kharkhauda.
In 2014 Haryana assembly election, BJP had won 23 assembly seats in the GT Road Belt, out of which they won all the 9 assembly seats of Ambala parliamentary constituency. INLD won 2 seats, Congress won 6 and Independent candidates won 4 seats.
Congress loses ground
Congress has lost its support on the GT road belt after the 2014 elections and the party's grip has weakened here. In such a situation, it will be a big challenge for Congress to gain some advantage here in the upcoming election. At the same time, INLD is still searching for its vote bank on the GT road belt.
PM Modi will hold a rally in the region
Major political parties in Haryana are BJP, Congress, Indian National Lokdal and Jannayak Janata Party. BJP again focused on this area and fielded 40-star campaigners in the polls. PM Modi will hold a rally in GT Road belt on October 15. Star campaigners Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Members of Parliament Hema Malini, Sunny Deol, Ravi Kishan, Manoj Tiwari, Hansraj Hans, Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Jat leaders Satya Pal Singh and Bhupendra Singh will be campaigning for the BJP in the state over the next few days.
Sonia Gandhi back in action
After many years and several elections, Sonia Gandhi will once again campaign for the Congress in Haryana elections, at a time when Gandhi family and Congress is struggling badly to gain some momentum. List of 40-star campaigners was announced by Congress, which included Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other senior leaders of Congress.
Mega Rally from PM Modi
Prime minister Narendra Modi will be holding a mega rally on October 15 in the Kurukshetra district adjacent to the GT Road belt. This shows that BJP understands the importance of this area. Also, senior leaders of Congress and INLD will also be seen holding rallies in this region.
It is not surprising that all parties are making a beeline for districts along the GT Road to get a foothold in the run-up to Assembly elections. So these are the equations of GT Road belt of Haryana. The voters here played a big role in elections. What the voters decide, will only be known on October 24.
Caste equation of the GT road belt
Ambala Parliamentary Constituency - Nine Assembly seats of three districts. There are eighteen and a half lakh voters in Ambala parliamentary constituency, out of which 20 per cent belong to SC, 9.2 per cent belong to Punjabi community, 8.3 per cent belong to Brahmin community, 6 per cent belong to Jat community and rest are from other communities.
Kurukshetra Parliamentary Constituency - Nine assembly seats of three districts. There are over sixteen lakh seventeen thousand voters in Kurukshetra parliamentary constituency out of which 24 per cent belong to SC, 23.5 per cent belong to Jat community, 6 per cent belong to Brahmin community and rest 46.5 per cent are from other communities.
Karnal Parliamentary Constituency - Nine assembly seats of two districts. There are over nineteen lakh thirty-six thousand voters in Karnal parliamentary constituency, out of which 11.5 per cent belong to Punjabi community, 10.5 per cent belong to Jat community, 8 per cent belongs to Brahmin community and rest are from other communities.
Sonipat Parliamentary Constituency - Nine assembly seats of two districts, out of which eight assembly seats are considered to be under GT road belt. There are over sixteen lakh voters in Sonipat parliamentary constituency out of which 35 per cent belong to Jat community, 12 per cent belong to Brahmin community, 7 per cent belong to Punjabi community and rest are from other communities.
