Ruckus in Haryana House as Congress attacks BJP on assembly poll verdict

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s historic third-term win in the Haryana assembly elections turned into a fiery showdown in the assembly on Thursday as Congress challenged the legitimacy of the BJP’s victory and accused the ruling party of using financial muscle, EVM manipulation, and free rations to sway voters.
The 90-member House saw intense exchanges between the Opposition Congress and ruling BJP during the five-hour debate on the motion of thanks to the governor’s address.
The Congress, still reeling from its recent electoral defeat, repeatedly questioned the BJP’s victory and threatened to disrupt the winter session proceedings. In response, the treasury benches retaliated strongly. The escalating tensions and disruptions led Speaker Harvinder Kalyan to caution both sides, reminding senior members of the importance of maintaining respectful discourse.
The trouble began when Bharat Bhushan Batra, Congress’ Rohtak MLA who had won by a 1,341 votes margin, said the BJP should worship the EVMs. Though the BJP members protested and the Speaker also objected, Batra said BJP bought votes by distributing free ration.
“Why is this government spending huge amounts by distributing free ration instead of taking steps to remove poverty? BJP manipulated election by free ration distribution,” Batra said and raised a question mark over the EVMs and neutrality of the Election Commission of India.
Batra went on to allege that the BJP won this assembly election at the strength of money and used all means such as persuasion, monetary influence, pressure tactics etc to secure victory. This statement sparked an immediate uproar from BJP leaders, with cabinet ministers Mahipal Dhanda, Dr Arvind Kumar Sharma, and Krishan Kumar Bedi advising the Congress to gracefully accept the reality.
Cabinet minister Krishan Bedi questioned whether it was appropriate for Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda to constantly threaten assembly disruptions.
The Opposition also claimed that 70% of Haryana’s population now falls under the below poverty line (BPL) category—a statistic that the Congress alleged the BJP inflated to win election.
“If Haryana is the number one state, why do we have 1.9 crore people in BPL category?” asked a Congress MLA, further criticising the government for prioritising populist food distribution programmes over sustainable economic policies.
Ashok Arora, another Congress MLA, called for a CBI probe into the exponential rise in BPL cardholders, suspecting foul play to influence voters.
BJP MLA Ram Kumar Gautam countered these criticisms by defending the party’s governance track record, contrasting it with the decade-long rule of Congress under Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Gautam credited the BJP’s return to power to its broad-based support, merit in government recruitments, transparency in governance, and the party’s “trump card” decision to make Nayab Singh Saini the chief minister, which he believed won over diverse communities in Haryana.
“BJP has come back to power with the support of all the 36 communities. Congress is well aware of this…and its weaknesses…They should accept their fate…The merit-based recruitment was a path-breaking decision because of which our youth started studying again,” Gautam said.
As the debate revolved around ‘bina parchi, bina kharchi’ recruitment, senior Congress MLA Raghuvir Singh Kadian claimed that the recruitment was not as merit based as it was made out to be. He alleged nepotism and corruption in recruitment, a charge parliamentary affairs minister Mahipal Dhanda refuted.
“Show us a single person who secured a post in the government recruitment on the basis of corruption,” Dhanda said and later every MLA who spoke cited instances of how youth from diverse backgrounds got employment in the government on merit.
BJP MLAs Harinder Singh, Laxman Yadav, Krishna Gehlawat, Bhagwan Dass, Nikhil Madan, to name a few, recalled their experiences of visiting villages during the electioneering when villagers reported how their children were recruited purely on merit.
“We have come to power due to merit-based recruitment started by then CM Manohar Lal Khattar. Congress is unable to digest this reality. Children of the poorest of the poor were recruited because merit was ensured. People have given a befitting reply to the Congress,” Jagmohan Anand, the BJP MLA from Karnal segment said.
His remarks were endorsed by Rewari MLA of the BJP, Laxman Yadav, who said: “During Congress rule, people used to sell their land to secure a government job. Now, 1.70 lakh youth were recruited on merit. The impact of BJP’s commitment to transparency and honouring merit is before all of us.”