On Monday, Manohar Lal Khattar, the former Chief Minister of Haryana, filed his candidacy as a BJP representative for the Karnal Lok Sabha constituency in the state. His nomination was supported by the current Chief Minister, Nayab Singh Saini, who concurrently filed his own nomination papers for the Karnal assembly by-elections.
Polling for the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana, including Karnal, will take place on May 25.
The Karnal Lok Sabha constituency encompasses nine assembly segments, with six held by the BJP, namely Indri, Karnal, Gharaunda, Panipat Rural, and Panipat City, along with one independent representative. The remaining three segments, Assandh, Israna (a reserved constituency), and Samalkha, are represented by the Congress party.
During the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Karnal Lok Sabha constituency saw a significant voter turnout of 68.31 percent, with the BJP's nominee at the time, Sanjay Bhatia, securing a substantial victory margin of over 6 lakh votes. This victory mirrored the BJP's previous success in the same constituency, with Ashwini Kumar emerging victorious in 2014. However, prior to the BJP's dominance, Karnal had been won by Congress candidate Arvind Kumar Sharma in both 2009 and 2004. Interestingly, Sharma is now contesting from Rohtak as a BJP candidate, challenging Congress' Deepender Singh Hooda. This move marks a shift from Sharma's previous candidacy in 2019, where he also ran from Rohtak as a BJP candidate and defeated Deepender.