This is how Khattar helped BJP sweep Haryana’s 10 seats

From sharp caste politics to party discipline, ThePrint takes a look at 5 factors that helped Khattar secure a perfect result in Haryana.

Haryana CM felicitates the arrival of PM Narendra Modi at the Jakhauli Toll Plaza | @mlkhattar Twitter

Chandigarh: Amid the ‘Modi wave’ sweeping the country in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has delivered a stunning 100 per cent result in the state’s 10 seats.

While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is on course to win 303 seats across India, with 294 already declared, Haryana has seen the party rise from its 2014 tally of 7.

Of its 10 victories, one includes that of Sanjay Bhatia in Karnal, with a massive margin of 6,56,142 votes. The only close fight was in Rohtak where Arvind Kumar Sharma beat Congress’ Deepender Singh Hooda by 7,503 votes.

After this perfect score for the party in the state, ThePrint takes a look at 5 factors that helped Khattar lead BJP to win Haryana.

Palpable Modi wave

The BJP registered huge victories in the urban and semi-urban constituencies in the state, mainly due to the Modi wave that swept across the state. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s hyper nationalist campaign, with his focus on reviving India’s ‘self respect’ internationally in the wake of the Pulwama attack through the Balakot air strikes resonated with the electorate.

Consolidation of non-Jat vote

An experiment the party first started in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP further consolidated its non-Jat vote base. The polarisation of the two vote bases had sharpened in the wake of the February 2016 violence during the Jat reservation agitation.

Division in Jat vote

Even as it consolidated the non-Jat vote, the party also benefitted from the split in the Jat-dominated Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) last year following an ugly feud in the Chautala family that runs the INLD. The division led to the creation of the Jannayak Janta Party and sharply divided the Jat vote base — which otherwise supported the INLD.

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Khattar’s governance

Through his tenure, Khattar diligently worked towards implementing all the central schemes in the state which later helped the PM generate a connect with the electorate. The Khattar government’s focus on transparent recruitment in government jobs also paid dividends. The CM’s own image of being an honest and upright politician was also a factor.

Party discipline

Unlike the Congress which was fraught with infighting in Haryana, the BJP put up a united front on almost all seats. Barring a few places where the party had to use strong tactics to quell rebellion, the BJP worked in tandem under state president Subhash Barala. The party also retained 5 of its 7 MPs who had won in 2014, giving them a head start in the campaign.