ROHTAK: Of the 17 elections that Rohtak parliamentary constituency has seen, nine have been won by the Hooda clan. In nearly three decades, the seat has been out of the family only once. This includes the time when the political career of former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda took off in 1991, when he beat then deputy PM Devi Lal. That win brought the seat to the family after 30 years, as Bhupinder’s father Ranbir Singh Hooda had also been an MP from here. Bhupinder went on to repeat the performance in 1996 and 1998.However, it was not always a Congress stronghold. From the early-1970s to mid-1980s the seat was won by Jan Sangh and Janta Party. Therefore, it surprised political watchers somewhat when Bhupinder’s son Deepender Hooda managed to retain the seat despite the Modi wave in the 2014 election.Modi, then PM candidate of BJP, had kicked off the national campaign from Rewari to sway ex-servicemen votes. The party won seven of the 10 seats in Haryana. Om Prakash Dhankhar (now state agriculture minister) contested against Deepender but lost by a margin of 1,70,727 votes. However, within months of this defeat, BJP managed to win four out of nine assembly segments that form Rohtak parliamentary constituency. Losing direct mayoral elections in Rohtak and Jind bypoll, both to BJP, has left Deepender looking vulnerable.Rohtak Lok Sabha seat covers Rohtak, Jhajjar and part of Rewari district with a total electorate count of 12,73,118. Rohtak and Jhajjar are dominated by Jat community with most of them engaged in farming and related activities. Another major chunk of voters is of ex-servicemen and the seat would show whether the OROP brought in by the Modi government at the Centre is acceptable to them.Wheat, mustard and sugarcane are the main crops of this region and unlike neighbouring Punjab, Haryana has not seen as much agitation by farmers. Being the constituency of then CM’s son, Rohtak gained a lot in form of infrastructure like roads and institutions like IIM Rohtak.BJP has done its part to get better foothold in the area. Rohtak has got multiple railway overbridge and underbridges and elevated track worth Rs 500 crore. An AIIMS is coming up in the area. Also, OPDs have already been started at the cancer centre in Jhajjar’s Badhsa village.To ensure enough political weightage to the area, Rohtak MLA Manish Grover and Badli MLA Dhankhar have been made ministers. Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar and finance minister Capt Abhimanyu also trace their roots to Rohtak district. The party has even set up its state headquarters here. This is one constituency where the Jat community has a complete sway with over 6 lakh voters. Since the formation of Haryana, only members of Jat community have been elected and major political parties have also mostly fielded Jats. The electoral also comprises 1.5-2 lakh SC voters, 1.5-2 lakh backward class voters, 45,000 Baniya voters, and 1 lakh Brahmin voters.

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