Will this affect BJP in Haryana elections?

Former Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda said that one Rajya Sabha seat in Haryana is vacant and if the Congress had the numbers, it would have nominated Vinesh Phogat.

However, Phogat is not yet 30, which is the minimum age required to become a Rajya Sabha member. And the deadline for submitting nominations for the vacant seat is just a few days before he turns 30.

But it is true that the whole fiasco could have added to the negativity towards the BJP that seems to have already existed in Haryana.

In the recent Lok Sabha elections, the BJP’s vote share in Haryana fell by 11.9 percentage points, while the Congress rose by 15 percentage points compared to 2019, a massive turnaround.

Largely, the Congress won because of the Jat vote swing, especially in places like Hisar, Sirsa, Sonepat and Rohtak.

The fighters’ protest was also the third major anti-BJP agitation targeting Jats, the other two being the 2016 Jat reservation protest and the 2020–21 farmers’ protest.

Recent opinion polls also suggest that Jat discontent with the BJP may continue in the upcoming Assembly elections.