With the parliamentary polls drawing near, the ruling Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and the Congress parties are brainstorming to regain as well return to power respectively while the former partner of the BJP, the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), and AAM Aadmi Party (AAP) are on toes to survive the polls . In this series, it is pertinent to mention that as a part of the aforementioned, all factions have rekindled their focus to emerge victorious on Ambala and Sirsa, reserved seats Schedule Caste (SC) In such a situation, all the parties are brainstorming every possible strategy to woo the voters in a bid to ensure victory in the upcoming battle.. Following the rules and regulations, Two parliamentary and 17 assembly seats will remain reserved till the year 2030. Notably, BJP candidates namely late Ratan Lal Kataria and Sunita Duggal, former IRS successfully fought the Lok Sabha polls in 2029 with a sizable margin during the Modi wave.
It is noteworthy that the BJP has fielded contestants namely Banto Kataria and Ashok Tanwar who recently quit the AAP and the saffron BJP, on Ambala and Sirsa seats respectively while the Congress remains undecided on all seats while the INLD and JJP also are yet to finalise the candidates on the concerned seats. Ambala Lok Sabha constituency which is the fourth largest in terms of numbers of voters 1978278 voters includes four assembly constituencies of Ambala district – Ambala City, Ambala Cantt, Narayangarh and Mullana and two of Panchkula district – Kalka and Panchkula and Jagadhri, Yamunanagar, Sadhaura constituencies of Yamunanagar district. In January, 2023, the number of voters in 4 assembly constituencies of Ambala district was 900466, which has now been reduced to 869779. After Ambala, Sirsa is the largest Lok Sabha constituency where there are 1924259 voters. This constituency includes all five assembly constituencies of Sirsa district – Kalanwali, Dabwali, Raniyan, Sirsa and Ellenabad, three of Fatehabad district – Ratia, Tohana and Fatehabad and Narwana assembly constituency of Jind district.
It is pertinent to mention in this regard that although the Election Law (Amendment) Act, 2021 was passed by the Parliamentary December, 2021, which was implemented from August 1, 2022. Through this, along with other amendments in the Representation of the People Act, 1950, it has also been provisioned that every year, not only on 1st January but also on 1st April, 1st July and 1st October, the names of local residents who complete 18 years of age Can be included in the voter lists of the concerned area. Of the whole, 90 assembly seats in the state, 17 constituencies will be reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates includes Mullana in Ambala, Sadhaura in Yamunanagar, Shahabad in Kurukshetra, Guhla in Kaithal, Israna in Panipat, Kharkhoda in Sonipat, Nilokhedi in Karnal, Narwana in Jind, Kalanwali in Sirsa, Ratia in Fatehabad, Uklana in Hisar, Bhawani Kheda in Bhiwani, Jhajjar in Jhajjar seat, Kalanaur in Rohtak, Bawal in Rewari, Pataudi in Gurugram and Hodal in Palwal.
It has been a tough battle between the two major national parties, BJP and the Congress in assembly polls held in 2019. Of these constituencies reserved for SC/ST candidates, the Congress has bagged a maximum 7 seats followed by the ruling BJP remaining in second position. The party contestants Balbir Valmiki from Israna in Panipat, Renubala from Sadhaura in Yamunanagar, Varun Chaudhary from Mullana in Ambala, Shakuntala Khatak from Kalanaur in Rohtak, Jaiveer Valmiki from Kharkhoda in Sonepat, Sheeshpal Keharwal from Kalanwali in Sirsa and Geeta Bhukkal from Jhajjar in Rohtak marked the victory. Further, the ruling BJP emerged victorious on 5 seats and the list . Among the party MLA’s Laxman Napa from Ratia in Fatehabad, Vishambhar Valmiki from Bawanikheda in Bhiwani, Banwari Lal from Bawal in Rewari, Satyaprakash Jaravata from Pataudi in Gurugram and Jagdish Nayyar from Hodal in Palwal; had fought the assembly polls successfully.
Similarly JJP, which is an ally in power in Haryana with the main ruling BJP and an entrant then, emerged victorious in constituencies. The JJP legislators Anup Dhanak, Ramkaran Kala, Ishwar Singh and Ramnivas Surjakheda succeeded in marking victory from Uklana, Shahabad, Guhla and Narwana seats respectively. On the other hand, independent Dharampal Gondar won the election from Nilokhedi. Since the Congress has been influential among the SC voters, it is believed to be dominating in the upcoming polls in reserved seats.Out of 10, as many as 2 parliamentary seats Ambala and Sirsa are reserved for SC candidates and the BJP contested the elections successfully on both seats as the party contenders Ratan Lal Kataria and Sunita Duggal secured the victory with a sizable vote share. Following the demise of Ratan Lal Kataria, Ambala seat was lying vacant for months as election was taken pertaining to holding the bypolls in Ambala. Not ably, no assembly seat is reserved in Faridabad, Panchkula, Mahendragarh, Nuh, and Charkhi Dadri districts.
Notably, the state government had divulged the cases based statistics pertaining to populations and families revealing that out of the total verified 68 lakh families and 2.83 crore people, there are a total of 1368365 SC families while the number of people from the families is 5861131 which constitutes 20.71 percent of the total families.
Similarly, the number of people from BC (A) and BC (B) category families is 4793312 and 3797306 constituting 16.93 percent and 13.41 percent respectively. On the other hand, the number of BC (A) and BC (B) category families is 4793312 and 3797306 respectively. It is worth noting that 72 lakh families had applied for PPP in the state. In view of this, the caste equations also exist as the crucial factor. A few days back, caste-based population data was shared by the government and prior to this, no such official information was made available. Since the figures of the caste-based population of the state have now come to the fore, all the parties are working on this angle. It is pertinent to mention that the Jats constitute the maximum number of vote banks, estimated from 25 to 30 percent in the state. Keeping in view the caste equations,