News Haryana Ambala Cantt Assembly Election 2024: Will BJP's top gun Anil Vij prevail for fourth time?

Ambala Cantt Assembly Election 2024: Will BJP's top gun Anil Vij prevail for fourth time?

Haryana Hot Seats: BJP has fielded six-time MLA Anil Vij against Congress' Parvinder Pal Pari, INLD's Onkar Singh and Congress rebel Chitra Sarwara who's contesting as an independent. Ambala Cantt is a BJP stronghold, with Vij winning the seat consecutively since 2009.

Haryana Assembly Elections 2024 Image Source : INDIA TVAmbala Cantt Assembly Election 2024.

Ambala Cantt Assembly Election 2024: The Ambala Cantt Assembly constituency is one of the 90 constituencies in the Haryana Legislative Assembly. It is constituency number 4 of the Haryana Legislative Assembly. The constituency is a general seat not reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs). Ambala Cantt is an assembly constituency located in the southwest region of Chandigarh.

This cantonment was established in the year 1843 and is an important centre for manufacturing of scientific and surgical instruments. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress, and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) are the main parties in the constituency, while the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are also contesting. MORE COVERAGE ON HARYANA ELECTIONS

Who are the candidates in Ambala Cantt Assembly Constituency?

A total of 11 candidates are in the fray. The BJP has fielded veteran leader and former minister Anil Vij, who has won the Ambala Cantt constituency a record six times in 1990, 1996, 2000, 2009, 2014 and 2019. Interestingly, Vij had recently planned to stake a claim for the Chief Minister's post if the party returns to power, but the BJP made it clear that Nayab Singh Saini would remain the CM if that happens.

The six-time MLA will face Congress' Parvinder Pal Pari and Congress rebel MLA Chitra Sarwara, who was suspended by the party for a period of six years for anti-party activities after she contested as an independent candidate. The INLD has fielded Onkar Singh, the JJP has fielded Avtar Kardhan and the AAP has fielded Raj Kaur Gill from this seat. The JJP is in an alliance with the Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) in the state, while the INLD has tied up with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). 

  1. BJP - Anil Vij
  2. Congress - Parvinder Pal Pari
  3. INLD - Onkar Singh
  4. JJP - Avtar Kardhan
  5. AAP - Raj Kaur Gill

Past winners on the seat and the parties

  • 1967: DR Anand (Indian National Congress)
  • 1968: Bhagwan Das (Bharatiya Jan Sangh)
  • 1972 Hans Raj Suri (Indian National Congress)
  • 1977 Sushma Swaraj (Janata Party)
  • 1982 Ram Dass Dhamija (Indian National Congress)
  • 1987 Sushma Swaraj (Bharatiya Janata Party)
  • 1990 Anil Vij (Bharatiya Janata Party)
  • 1991 Brij Anand (Indian National Congress)
  • 1996 Anil Vij (Independent)
  • 2000 Anil Vij (Independent)
  • 2005: Devender Kumar Bansal (Indian National Congress)
  • 2009: Anil Vij (Bharatiya Janata Party)
  • 2014: Anil Vij (Bharatiya Janata Party)
  • 2019: Anil Vij (Bharatiya Janata Party)

Ambala Cantt Assembly Elections 2024: Poll Date

The Ambala Cantt constituency in Haryana will go to the polls on October 5. The date of voting was changed from October 1 to 5 by the Election Commission of India (ECI) following requests from several political parties and social organisations. 

Ambala Cantt Assembly Elections 2024: Result Date

The result for the Ambala Cantt will be declared on October 8, along with the other 89 constituencies in Haryana. Earlier, the result date in the state was October 4, but the ECI postponed it.

Ambala Cantt Assembly Constituency: Past winners

In the 2019 Haryana Assembly Elections, BJP candidate Anil Vij won the seat with a margin of 20,165 votes (16.7 %). He polled 64,571 with a vote share of 53.04%. He defeated INLD candidate Chitra Sarwara, who got 44,406 votes (36.48%). Congress candidate Venu Singla with 8,534 votes (7.01%) stood third and BSP's Rajesh Kumar came fourth with 1938 (1.59%). The total number of valid votes polled was 120,493 (61.86%).

In the 2014 Haryana Assembly Elections, BJP's Anil Vij won the seat with a margin of 15,462 votes (12.28%). He polled 66,605 with a vote share of 52.49%. He defeated Congress candidate Nirmal Singh who received 51,143 votes (40.31%). INLD's Suraj Parkash Jindal came third with 5,407 votes (4.26%). NOTA received the fourth-highest votes. The total number of valid votes polled was 125,880 (72.63%).