Haryana Opinion Poll: Former CM BS Hooda projected to win Garhi seat

Two-time Haryana Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda is contesting for his re-election from Garhi Sampla-Kiloi assembly seat in Rohtak district. Hooda had won this seat in 2014 with 80,693 votes. The Jat-dominated seat with over two lakh voters has thirteen candidates in the fray. BJP has fielded Satish Nandal, a former Indian National Lok Dal leader, to challenge Hooda. Nandal was twice defeated by Hooda in the last two Assembly polls. Krishan Kaushik is the INLD candidate for Garhi Sampla-Kiloi constituency.

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Republic TV presented the Jan Ki Baat Opinion poll based on ground surveys ahead of the Haryana assembly elections. The Garhi Sampla-Kiloi seat is likely to witness Congress's Bhupinder Singh Hooda retaining his Jat-dominated bastion. The opinion poll to gauge the mood in Haryana projects that the BJP is likely to increase its seats to the range of 58-70 whereas the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) may win five to eight seats. Congress is likely to get 12-18 seats whereas INLD may only just manage to open its account.

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A bumpy ride for veteran Hooda

Hooda has sailed through internal frictions in the party as it struggled to overcome the washout in this year's Lok Sabha polls. The sitting MLA from Garhi Sampla-Kiloi is also the Congress Legislature party chief. Hooda has been campaigning hard to bring the focus back on local issues in his rallies as the BJP projects Article 370 abrogation, national security and nationalism in its discourse.

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Hooda's leadership of the party was in question after he lost the Lok Sabha contest from Sonipat to the BJP while his son and three-time MP Deepender Singh Hooda too met the same fate in Rohtak. The BJP had swept the state winning all 10 seats in the general elections.

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2014 Haryana Assembly elections

The previous assembly elections in the state had witnessed the BJP storming to power by unseating the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led government by winning 47 of the 90 seats.