Haryana polls: Bishnoi-dominated Adampur to stand by Bhajan Lal's family again

The dates to the upcoming Haryana assembly elections have been changed. The elections will now be held on October 5, after which the results will be announced on October 8.

In such a situation, political parties have got some reprieve and will be able to campaign for a few more days.

Bhajan Lal family domination

As election fever picks up, all eyes are on Adampur, one of Haryana's VIP seats. This assembly constituency is the traditional stronghold of Chaudhary Bhajan Lal, one of the three Lals of the state.

Much like Bollywood shahenshah Amitabh Bachchan's famous dialogue in the 1981 film 'Kaalia' - Hum jahan khade ho jate hai, line wahi se shuru ho jaati hai (the line starts from where I stand...), something similar can be said of the Bhajan Lal family in Adampur. 

Bhajan Lal, who has been the Chief Minister of Haryana, has dominated over Adampur, which falls in Hisar district. Currently, his grandson Bhavya Bishnoi is the Adampur MLA, a seat he won in the 2022 bypoll.  Earlier, Bhajan Lal's younger son Kuldeep Bishnoi was the MLA, and notably, the Bhajan Lal family has held sway over this constituency since 1967.

One of the key reasons for their hold over this area is because Adampur is dominated by the Bishnoi community. The Bishnoi population is very high in Adampur, the community is mostly found in this area and they have had a strong influence on who gets voted to power in Adampur seat in Hisar district.

This is largely the reason why the Bhajan Lal family has not had any problem in winning this seat till date. All the Bishnoi people in Adampur completely support the Bhajan Lal family. Whichever party this family belongs to, the people of Adampur will vote for that party, say political observers.

Adampur Mandi

Adampur is more known by the name of Adampur Mandi. This is because farmers from many nearby villages flock to a market held in Adampur, to sell their  crops. It is an important place for farmers and traders. Besides the Bishnois, there are a huge number of Jats living in Adampur as well.

The 2022 bypolls

By-elections were held on the Adampur seat in 2022 and the BJP won this election. BJP had fielded Kuldeep Bishnoi's son Bhavya Bishnoi and he managed to get a total of 67,376 votes, while the Congress candidate Jai Prakash won 51,662 votes.

However, in 2019, the situation was slightly different. The Congress had won this seat because Kuldeep Bishnoi was in Congress at that time and he had contested from this seat. He got 63,693 votes in this election and BJP was relegated to the second place. The BJP candidate at that time, Sonali Phogat, who later died at a Goa resort in alleged mysterious circumstances, got 34,222 votes. 

For the upcoming assembly polls, the Adampur candidate has not been announced yet but given the power and influence of the Bhajan Lal family, it seems very likely that Bhavya Bishnoi will get the ticket for this seat once again.

BJP has also given a big responsibility to Bhavya's father Kuldeep Bishnoi in the party and therefore Bhavya will be considered as the BJP candidate. It will also be interesting to see who the Congress and other parties like INLD, JJP field as their candidates.

The results of 2022 by-elections

BJP:  Bhavya Bishnoi - 67,492

Congress: Jai Prakash - 51,572

INLD: Kurda Ram Numberdar - 5,248

(This article was originally published in The Federal Desh.)