In a major boost to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) following the 2024 Haryana Assembly elections, India’s richest woman, Savitri Jindal, along with two other independent MLAs, has extended support to the party, significantly bolstering its position. With Jindal and independent MLAs Rajesh Joon and Devender Kadyan backing the BJP, the party’s tally in the 90-member assembly has risen to 51 seats, comfortably above the majority mark.
The BJP, which had already secured 48 seats in the election, was looking to solidify its numbers after a closely contested race. While the Congress won 37 seats, it posed no immediate threat to the BJP’s leadership but had raised concerns about alleged irregularities in the counting process. Jindal‘s decision to support the BJP came after a meeting with Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and former Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb.
Jindal, who contested as an independent from her stronghold in Hisar, managed to win by a margin of 18,941 votes against the Congress candidate. Her late husband, industrialist OP Jindal, and her son, Naveen Jindal, a BJP MP from Kurukshetra, have deep-rooted political and industrial connections in the region. Although she previously had ties with the Congress, Jindal’s recent alignment with the BJP underscores a significant shift in Haryana’s political dynamics.
Kadyan and Joon, both of whom had contested as independents, also secured victories against their Congress and BJP opponents. Kadyan, a BJP rebel, won from Ganaur, defeating Congress candidate Kuldip Sharma by a substantial margin. Similarly, Joon triumphed in Bahadurgarh, defeating BJP’s Dinesh Kaushik.
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With this newly strengthened support, the BJP is set to form the government for a third consecutive term in Haryana, a victory that is seen as further consolidation of its power in the state.