BJP lost Ambala (reserved) Lok Sabha seat, considered as Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini‘s stronghold, to Congress candidate Varun Chaudhary in a close contest on Tuesday.
Varun defeated BJP’s Banto Kataria with a margin of 49,036 votes as he bagged 6,63,657 (49.28%) votes out of total 13,44,533 votes polled through EVM and 2,189 polled through postal ballot.Kataria bagged 6,14,621 (45.64%) votes and Bahujan Samaj Party’s Pawan Randhawa secured third position with just 23,583 (1.75%) votes.
The overall trends on Ambala seats shows that the vote share of BJP has considerably shifted to Congress and also the victory margin has decreased largely in a close contest between the two national parties as compared to last two parliamentary elections. In 2019, BJP secured a vote share of 56.71% while in 2024 it got 45.64%, registering a decline of 11.07%.
As the trends indicated Congress win, its supporters started to gather outside the counting centre while Varun went inside to collect his certificate.
Out of nine assembly constituencies in Ambala Lok Sabha area, Congress candidate Varun recorded lead in five seats – Ambala City, Mullana (reserved), Naraingarh, Jagadhri, and Sadhaura (reserved). BJP’s Kataria recorded a lead on four segments – Ambala Cantonment, Yamunanagar, Kalka and Panchkula.
In Naraingarh assembly segment led by Congress MLA Shalley, which also houses CM Nayab Saini’s native village Mirjapur, BJP faced defeat as it secured 52,441 votes from here, while Congress got 73,347 votes.
In the stronghold of Haryana transport minister Aseem Goel at Ambala City assembly segment, Varun got 78,798 votes while Kataria secured 73,099.
In Ambala Cantonment constituency led by Haryana’s ex-home minister Anil Vij, Kataria bagged 61,177 votes while Varun got 58,200 votes. In Mullana (reserved) constituency led by Congress candidate Varun Chaudhary, as he was MLA from here, Varun got 86,770 votes while Kataria got 58,652 votes.
In Jagadhri constituency led by Haryana agriculture minister Kanwar Pal Gujjar, BJP faced defeat, as it got 74,989 votes against 90,435 votes of Congress.
In Panchkula district’s Kalka constituency, led by Congress MLA Pardeep Chaudhary, Kataria got 69,257 votes while Varun got 58,412 votes. In Panchkula constituency led by BJP MLA and Haryana Vidhan Sabha speaker Gian Chand Gupta, Kataria got 79,172 votes while Varun got 58,251.
In 2019, when 13,16,235 votes were polled in Ambala, BJP leader late Rattan Lal Kataria had bagged 7,46,508 votes i.e. vote share of 56.71%, and defeated Congress candidate Kumari Selja with a margin of 3,42,345 votes. In 2014, when 12,18,995 votes were polled in Ambala, BJP’s Kataria had bagged 6,12,121 votes i.e. vote share of 50.21%, and defeated Congress candidate Raj Kumar Valmiki with a margin of 3,40,074 votes as he bagged 2,72,047 votes (22.31% vote share).
