Chandigarh: Stage is set for a fierce electorate battle in the Ladwa assembly constituency of Kurukshetra district of poll-bound Haryana where chief minister Nayab Saini faces the sitting Congress MLA Mewa Singh and BJP `rebel’ Sandeep Garg, besides the candidates of other parties.

Stakes are high for both Saini and Singh as the constituency has considerable votes of Sainis (OBC) and Jat communities as well as others including schedule caste (SC), Baniya and Brahmin. While Congress and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) candidates seek Jat votes, Saini eyes the non-Jat votes, particularly OBC as well as the votes of upper-caste communities.

It is fifth election for Saini from four constituencies and Ladwa is being seen as the safest seat for him among the three Saini-dominated seats after Radaur and Naraingarh; Also, the BJP candidate Naveen Jindal had mustered a huge chunk of votes from Ladwa segment in the recently held Lok Sabha polls. Ladwa was also part of the Kurukshetra which was won by Nayab Saini in 2019; He, however, had fought Karnal by-election after he replaced Manohar Lal Khattar as chief minister in March this year as the latter had decided to fight the Lok Sabha election. Saini was also the state BJP president then.

However, it does not seem to be a cakewalk for Saini this time as he faces Congress’ Mewa Singh who had trounced BJP’s Pawan Saini by over 12,600 votes in 2019. Singh poses a tough fight to Nayab Saini in the multi-corner contest as the latter is also facing a strong anti-wave against the BJP which has been in power for the past 10 years in the state.

However, the going is not easy for Singh, either, as also in the fray is another Jat leader Sapna Barshami, a candidate of Indian National Lok Dal (INLD). Sapna is daughter-in-law of former INLD chief and former Ladwa MLA, Sher Singh Barshami. Barshami was also convicted and jailed along with party chief O P Chautala in a recruitment scam in 2013.

While the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has fielded Joga Singh, the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) has fielded Vinod Sharma and the two pose a possibility of further split in the votes and to play a spoiler.

However, Sandeep Garg, a former BJP leader who had jumped into the fray as an independent candidate against Nayab Saini, threatens to eat into the BJP votes. Formerly a Congress leader, Garg had joined BJP hoping to get a ticket this time. He is known for his various social works. Even though Saini had visited him to placate him, but to no avail.

SEAT PROFILE:

TOTAL VOTERS: 1,96,536

MALE: 1,01,518

FEMALE: 95,017

THIRD GENDER: 01